TAGGED AS COVID-19
Wireless data essential tool for study of urban recovery from pandemic
telecom | 06/07/2024 9:28 pm EDT
Social scientists are depending on wireless data to drive their research. A study at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities uses such information as the cornerstone of...
CRTC rejects Stingray COVID relief request, orders broadcaster to pay $9M in tangible benefits
telecom | 08/16/2022 5:05 pm EDT
The CRTC has denied an application from Stingray Group Inc. for relief from payments the company owes to the broadcasting sector known as "tangible benefits payments," to the...
Government, Telefilm, extend support for uninsured Canadian productions
Media | 02/11/2022 1:06 pm EST
The Government of Canada has extended its temporary emergency fund...
CRTC sides with creative sector in broadcasters’ CanCon relief proposal
Media | 08/12/2021 5:23 pm EDT
The CRTC has denied a request made by the Canadian Association of...
CRTC reports drop in broadcast revenue for 2020
Media | 07/16/2021 5:38 pm EDT
With advertising revenues battered by the pandemic -- particularly the second half of the year -- the...
PIAC calls for $50 internet subsidy for lower-income Canadians during pandemic
telecom | 01/14/2021 4:12 pm EST
Canada should follow the lead of the United States and put in place a $50 “broadband benefit” throughout the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says. The...
Corus revenues down 10 per cent
Media | 01/12/2021 6:58 pm EST
Corus Entertainment Inc. reported Tuesday its first-quarter revenues were $420.3 million, down 10 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Profits, meanwhile, were down three per cent to $178.6 million in the three-month period ending Nov. 30. TV revenues fell from $430 million to $392.1 million and radio was down to $28.3 million from $37.9 million. The company said in a release that TV advertising revenues were down 14 per cent, an improvement from the advertising declines it saw in previous quarters. It said the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic “continue to negatively impact advertising revenues.” Another impact the second wave of the pandemic and resulting new restrictions are having is uncertainty over what TV shows the broadcaster can expect to have on its schedule, CEO Doug Murphy told analysts on a...
Citing COVID-19, government waives broadcasters’ Part II license fees
telecom | 12/15/2020 5:25 pm EST
The federal government will waive Part II licensing fees for Canadian broadcasters that have seen advertising downturns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A Tuesday afternoon press release from Canadian...
OPC supports PIAC call for CRTC to clarify rules for tracing apps
telecom | 12/01/2020 5:48 pm EST
While it believes the CRTC's existing definition of "customer confidential...
CanCon relief proposal ‘overly broad’, redundant: creative groups
Media | 11/02/2020 6:41 pm EST
In its reply to interventions on the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' request for a policy of "deemed compliance" in Canadian programming expenditures, the Canadian Media Producers Association...
Community radio pushes back on CAB CanCon relief request
Media | 10/30/2020 12:41 pm EDT
The National Campus and Community Radio Association, Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada and Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec have filed a joint intervention arguing...
PIAC requests privacy review of contact tracing apps
telecom | 10/29/2020 6:24 pm EDT
Six months after the CRTC declined its request to hold an inquiry into contact tracing technologies and...
Commish ‘frustrated for Canadian citizens’ as privacy laws lag
telecom | 10/08/2020 5:53 pm EDT
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened privacy concerns around activities...
Rogers still too vague about its use of ITMPs: TekSavvy
telecom | 10/02/2020 4:02 pm EDT
In an ongoing dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and some of its third party internet access (TPIA) wholesale customers over COVID-19-related internet traffic management practices (ITMPs),...
Videotron launches physical distancing wristband
telecom | 09/24/2020 2:34 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc. has launched a wristband that lights up and vibrates when individuals come too close to...
Throne speech reiterates rural broadband, web giant promises
Media | 09/23/2020 2:54 pm EDT
In Wednesday’s throne speech kicking off Parliament’s return, the Liberal government repeated previous commitments to introduce new rules for large foreign digital companies and accelerate rural broadband builds.
“Web giants are taking Canadians’ money while...
Back to Parliament: your (pandemic) preview
Media | 09/22/2020 12:43 pm EDT
Given the precarious situation around the now-escalating COVID-19 pandemic, what will actually be...
STIR/SHAKEN implementation date delayed 9 months
telecom | 09/15/2020 4:27 pm EDT
The CRTC has extended its deadline for telecom providers to implement an anti-call-spoofing protocol known as STIR/SHAKEN by nine months, until June 30, 2021. Telecoms had initially been required to launch the protocol by the...
CRA withholding wage subsidy from Iristel: court filing
telecom | 08/31/2020 5:06 pm EDT
Iristel Inc.'s ongoing fight with the Canada Revenue Agency has become yet more complicated, as the company filed a new application for judicial review Friday, alleging that the CRA improperly...
$263M in deferred spectrum fees due Tuesday: ISED
Media | 08/31/2020 3:00 pm EDT
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada won’t give any more extensions on the payment of spectrum fees, which are due Sept. 1, the department said. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, ISED deferred the payment of...
Broadcasters asked CRTC for emergency COVID-19 relief in July
Media | 08/21/2020 4:31 pm EDT
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters asked the CRTC not to enforce conditions of licence and regulations relating to broadcasters’ expenditures for this broadcast year, citing the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic.
It said that months into the COVID-19...
Committee studies, reports on hold as Parliament prorogued
telecom | 08/18/2020 6:38 pm EDT
With Tuesday's prorogation of Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has...
CRTC stepped back to allow telecoms to handle COVID-19
telecom | 08/13/2020 3:37 pm EDT
The CRTC largely played a hands-off role during the COVID-19 pandemic in a...
ISED says department has ‘done well’ with working from home
telecom | 08/10/2020 5:52 pm EDT
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development says it is moving toward establishing a hybrid work-from-home model that will see increasing numbers of employees return to office work in a series of...
eHealth raises data, privacy, and clinical questions: experts
Media | 08/05/2020 6:07 pm EDT
eHealth technologies have been widely billed as bridging divides between...
Telus profits down nearly 40 per cent
telecom | 07/31/2020 4:03 pm EDT
Telus Corp. posted a 39.4 per cent drop in profit in the second quarter of the year, the first quarter to...
UPDATED: OPC now says it supports COVID-19 tracing app
Media | 07/31/2020 8:52 am EDT
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has cleared up uncertainty about...
Half of spectrum licencees opted to use ISED’s COVID flexibility
telecom | 07/29/2020 5:21 pm EDT
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada allowed companies to...
Blockbuster Disney production lobbying over COVID-19 protocols
Media | 07/21/2020 6:34 pm EDT
The production company creating a remake of 1940s noir film Nightmare Alley...
Alberta tracing app review could ‘inspire confidence’: privacy expert
telecom | 07/14/2020 6:20 pm EDT
In its long-awaited privacy review of ABTraceTogether, Alberta's COVID-19 contact tracing app, the provincial privacy watchdog has recommended that Alberta Health update its...
Broadcaster pushes for new multilingual channel as COVID lobbying continues
Media | 07/14/2020 3:33 pm EDT
An Ontario-based ethnic broadcaster lobbying the government for funding to...
Shaw’s subscriber additions dampened by COVID lockdowns
telecom | 07/10/2020 8:39 pm EDT
Shaw Communications Inc. president Paul McAleese said that while there has...
Phase 2 of Heritage emergency support fund to fill in ‘gaps’
Media | 07/07/2020 5:20 pm EDT
The federal government has announced further details of how the $500-million fund it announced in May will be spent, and confirmed the second phase of the COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural,...
Pandemic has increased need for privacy rights, OPC told Guilbealt
Media | 06/30/2020 5:08 pm EDT
COVID-19 has made privacy rights even more important, the federal privacy commissioner’s office told Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault in May. A presentation prepared by the Office of the...
Q3 ‘very tough’ for Corus as ad revenues plummet
Media | 06/26/2020 3:27 pm EDT
The financial impacts of COVID-19 induced lockdowns led to a “very tough quarter” for Corus Entertainment Inc. as advertising revenue dropped dramatically, CEO Doug Murphy told analysts on Friday, with total revenues dropping 24 per cent on the year before to $348.9...
Assess privacy before launching contact tracing apps, advocacy groups say
telecom | 06/24/2020 5:09 pm EDT
Contact tracing apps aimed at assisting public health authorities in...
Privacy commissioner hasn’t approved new gov’t contact tracing app
telecom | 06/18/2020 3:48 pm EDT
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that in developing the federal...
TekSavvy argues Rogers unfairly applying ITMP
telecom | 06/10/2020 4:12 pm EDT
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. has asked the CRTC to force Rogers Communications Inc. to stop applying an...
Monsef tight-lipped on rural broadband funding announcement
telecom | 06/05/2020 5:01 pm EDT
Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef says “precise...
ISED delays 3500 MHz auction by six months
telecom | 06/05/2020 1:45 pm EDT
The 3500 MHz spectrum auction, originally scheduled for December of this year, will now take place in...
Competition Bureau, telecoms MVNO stance unchanged by COVID-19
telecom | 06/03/2020 6:00 pm EDT
The Competition Bureau says its advocacy for a temporary hybrid mobile...
Outdated privacy laws may hamper COVID-19 tracing: Therrien
telecom | 05/29/2020 7:00 pm EDT
The outdated state of Canadian privacy laws may harm efforts to launch a...
SaskTel to resume charging overage fees on June 9
telecom | 05/29/2020 2:13 pm EDT
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. will become the second Canadian telecom to resume charging overage fees to home internet customers who go over their data caps, with the company announcing it will end the COVID-19...
Network performance supports light regulatory touch: Bibic
telecom | 05/27/2020 6:58 pm EDT
The performance of networks in other countries during the COVID-19 crisis is evidence that the Liberal government and the CRTC should tread lightly when it comes to regulating the telecom sector, BCE Inc. CEO Mirko Bibic said Wednesday.
That includes potential mandated...
Advertising market in ‘modest recovery’: Corus
Media | 05/27/2020 6:34 pm EDT
Canada’s television advertising market has moved to a stage of “modest recovery” after chapters of...
Roam Mobility shutting down
telecom | 05/27/2020 5:25 pm EDT
Otono Networks Inc.’s Roam Mobility will cease operations on June 30, the company said Wednesday. Roam Mobility previously provided prepaid SIM cards for visitors to the United States and Canada. It shut down the Canadian service in January, though it continued to provide SIM cards and service...
Google exec outlines privacy measures in new contact-tracing API
telecom | 05/22/2020 2:54 pm EDT
Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations for Canada for...
Incumbents ask court for delay of wholesale rate appeal
telecom | 05/21/2020 6:01 pm EDT
Incumbent cable companies have asked a Federal Court of Appeal judge to delay their appeal of the CRTC's wholesale rates decision until the proceeding can be conducted in person. In a letter...
Fraudsters cashing in on pandemic, committee told
telecom | 05/20/2020 8:05 pm EDT
The Canadian Anti Fraud Centre has received almost 1000 complaints about fraud attempts related to COVID-19 since the beginning of March, the RCMP’s assistant commissioner of federal policing criminal operations Eric Slinn told a Parliamentary committee Wednesday....
Telus to share aggregate location data with government researchers
telecom | 05/20/2020 6:09 pm EDT
Telus Corp. said it will begin providing de-identified, aggregate location data to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to help combat COVID-19. It said in a...
2025 offered as connectivity target as pressure to fast track rises
telecom | 05/19/2020 2:01 pm EDT
Universal connectivity at the CRTC’s universal service objective speeds...
Spectrum funds could achieve broadband targets before 2030: telecoms
telecom | 05/14/2020 9:35 pm EDT
An NDP plan for the federal government to add money raised from past and...
Rovi’s STB suit against Quebecor will proceed via Zoom
Media | 05/13/2020 4:14 pm EDT
A Federal Court proceeding between Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron and Rovi Guides Inc. that was halted in early March as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began, will resume via Zoom, over the objections of...
CRTC rejects request to hold contact-tracing inquiry
telecom | 05/13/2020 4:09 pm EDT
The CRTC has rejected a Public Interest Advocacy Centre request that it look into the involvement of...
COVID-19 accelerating rural/urban connectivity divide: CIRA
telecom | 05/08/2020 5:49 pm EDT
Rural home internet speeds during the first full month where Canadians shifted to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic were almost 12 times slower than the median speed for urban Canadians,...
Canadians broadly supportive of COVID-19 tracing apps: survey
telecom | 05/08/2020 5:41 pm EDT
Some eight in 10 Canadians support the use of wireless data to track the spread of COVID-19, and 65 per cent of Canadians think it should be mandatory, according to a survey released by three federal...
Guilbeault details $500M relief for arts and culture
telecom | 05/08/2020 5:02 pm EDT
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Friday released more details on how a previously-announced...
Telus withdraws guidance, records 19 per cent net income reduction
telecom | 05/07/2020 6:00 pm EDT
Telus Corp.’s net income for the first quarter of 2020 dropped 19 per cent to $353 million and the company joined the other major incumbents in withdrawing financial...
Bell calls for delayed payments in 3.5 GHz spectrum auction
telecom | 05/07/2020 5:59 pm EDT
While BCE Inc.'s first quarter results showed a decline in profits and...
5G monitoring same as for all wireless tech: Health Canada
telecom | 05/06/2020 3:16 pm EDT
Health Canada has responded to an MPs’ query about what steps it is...
Conservatives and NDP united for enforcement of wholesale rates
telecom | 05/05/2020 5:27 pm EDT
Opposition parties that normally hold differing views on any given issue...
PIAC calls for providers to detail COVID-19 tracing involvement
telecom | 05/04/2020 6:14 pm EDT
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is asking for all Canadian...
Shaw to lay off about 100 British Columbia field technicians
telecom | 05/01/2020 3:35 pm EDT
Shaw Communications Inc. plans to permanently lay off about 100 field technicians in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, stating the COVID-19 pandemic had “only accelerated” the company’s two-year pivot towards a self-connect service model. A Shaw spokesman said in an email that the redundancies — affecting less than eight per cent of its technician workforce — were necessary as “very few of our unionized technicians accepted early retirement or volunteer packages that were offered.” The layoffs were first reported by the Globe and Mail Thursday. Technician-led service and...
Provinces also looking at speeding up rural broadband rollouts
telecom | 05/01/2020 1:10 pm EDT
As the federal government and individual companies work on accelerating...
Cogeco to bring back overage fees as of May 1
telecom | 04/30/2020 2:10 pm EDT
Cogeco Inc. will again start charging overage fees to its home internet customers who exceed their data limits as of Friday, with the company instead focusing on other measures it considers to “be more essential” to its...
Federal government to accelerate rural broadband funds: Monsef
telecom | 04/29/2020 3:49 pm EDT
The federal government will speed up its rural broadband funding in...
CRTC to review wholesale rate setting approach
Media | 04/24/2020 3:16 pm EDT
The CRTC has launched a public consultation into whether the approach it uses to set wholesale rates should be changed, stating it’s seeking to establish a “more transparent and efficient process” while ensuring rates remain...
Bell speeding up rural broadband rollout
telecom | 04/23/2020 3:30 pm EDT
BCE Inc. will be delivering its fixed wireless internet to some 137,000 more homes than it had planned to...
Rogers revenue drops 5%, withdraws guidance due to COVID-19
Media | 04/22/2020 3:44 pm EDT
Rogers Communications Inc. recorded a five per cent drop in revenue in the...
Telecoms, broadcasters lobbying on COVID-19 effects
Media | 04/21/2020 5:28 pm EDT
Telecom and media companies, including Quebecor Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., have begun adding COVID-19-related registrations to their lobby files in recent weeks. On April 15, Corus added “discussions of...
Lockdown extending to July could put $2.5B of production work at risk: report
Media | 04/21/2020 5:11 pm EDT
A COVID-19 induced lockdown of the country will put $2.5 billion of film and television production work at risk of disruption or permanent loss if it lasts until the end of June, a new report prepared...
2020 a ‘lost year’ for telecom growth: analyst
telecom | 04/20/2020 5:35 pm EDT
The telecommunications sector will have an "irrelevant" first quarter and will "write off" the second quarter, according to a preview note published Monday by RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds.
Investors will be focused on an anticipated recovery in the second...
Quebecor hits out at Bell’s ‘unfounded’ IBW extension request
telecom | 04/20/2020 4:36 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc. has urged the CRTC to deny a BCE Inc. request to indefinitely...
Gov’t in ‘early stages’ of using cellphone data for COVID-19 tracking: Bains
telecom | 04/20/2020 3:40 pm EDT
The federal government is looking at what other jurisdictions are doing...
Bell donating 1.5 million masks to provinces, federal gov’t
Media | 04/17/2020 2:01 pm EDT
BCE Inc. announced Friday that it has acquired 1.5 million N95 and KN95...
Bell calls for new in-building wire tariff to be put on ice
telecom | 04/16/2020 5:47 pm EDT
A process to create a tariff for access to in-building wire in...
Wholesale appeal is on shaky legal footing, TekSavvy argues
telecom | 04/16/2020 5:39 pm EDT
The ongoing appeal by incumbent telecoms of the CRTC's wholesale internet rates decision from August should be dismissed because the appeal argues that the regulator made errors in fact, rather than errors in law and jurisdiction, according to a Tuesday filing from TekSavvy Solutions Inc. According to the argument made by TekSavvy, the Telecommunications Act only allows for appeals of CRTC decisions on grounds of questions of law or jurisdiction. Those bringing the appeal -- BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Cogeco Inc., Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron, Shaw Communications Inc., and Bragg...
CRTC approves Bell’s ‘urgent’ Wangiri-blocking request
telecom | 04/16/2020 5:17 pm EDT
After BCE Inc. asked it to grant an "urgent" approval to block the one-ring...
Pump the brakes on COVID data tracking, advocacy groups warn
telecom | 04/15/2020 5:35 pm EDT
Despite the extraordinary desire to stop the spread of COVID-19, there is still no justification for mass unwarranted surveillance of identifiable people, according to a joint statement of principles...
Shaw lays off ten per cent of workforce due to COVID-19
telecom | 04/14/2020 6:04 pm EDT
Shaw Communications Inc. will temporarily lay off about ten per cent of its...
38% of Canadians say COVID-19 slowed internet service: CIRA survey
telecom | 04/14/2020 5:15 pm EDT
Almost four in ten Canadians say their home internet speeds are slower than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority...
Provinces collaborating on cellphone tracking: Tam
telecom | 04/14/2020 2:19 pm EDT
Canadian authorities are “pulling together a group amongst the provinces and territories to gauge interest” in using cellphone data to track the spread of COVID-19, Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, said...
Incumbents using COVID-19 to tamper with procedures, CNOC, TekSavvy claim
telecom | 04/09/2020 8:07 pm EDT
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and TekSavvy Solutions Inc. are alleging that the incumbent telecoms from whom they purchase wholesale high-speed internet access are making changes to...
CRTC delays launch of new proceedings due to COVID-19
Media | 04/09/2020 6:47 pm EDT
The CRTC has delayed the launch of new proceedings due to COVID-19, stating it’s aware the telecommunications industry’s primary focus is on delivering services to Canadians. In a statement...
Rempel Garner calls on Bains, CRTC to enforce wholesale rates
telecom | 04/09/2020 5:15 pm EDT
Conservative industry critic Michelle Rempel Garner has called on...
COVID-19 delays next-gen 911 network roll-out
telecom | 04/09/2020 3:38 pm EDT
The CRTC has pushed back a series of deadlines around the implementation of next-generation 911 (NG911) services, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter published to the CRTC’s website on Thursday, the regulator said the pandemic and the measures taken to contain it are “having a significant impact on citizens and businesses across Canada,” including those responsible for the implementation of NG911. “Consequently, the Commission understands that the maintenance of current networks, including in-service 9-1-1 networks, is being prioritized over work relating to the...
Cogeco pre-COVID Q2 revs steady, adjusts share buyback
telecom | 04/08/2020 6:57 pm EDT
Amid the financial uncertainty and upheaval of the COVID-19 global...
Bains says he’s in ‘constant contact’ with telecoms over network capacity
telecom | 04/08/2020 4:24 pm EDT
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains says the...
CNOC calls for gov’t funding to keep Canadians connected
telecom | 04/07/2020 5:40 pm EDT
The federal government should guarantee internet service providers payments...
Quebec City police used location data to track infected individual
telecom | 04/06/2020 5:15 pm EDT
In March, Quebec City police used cellphone location data to track and then arrest a woman infected with COVID-19 who refused to self-isolate. The Canadian Press quoted Quebec City chief Robert...
Watchdog Friends calls for emergency media fund
telecom | 04/06/2020 2:43 pm EDT
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has urged the federal government to help prominent media outlets facing “imminent failure” due to falling revenues driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to a survey that shows a majority of Canadians somewhat support treating media...
TVA news staff to return to Sherbrooke following positive COVID-19 tests
telecom | 04/02/2020 4:30 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc.’s TVA news team in Sherbrooke, Que. will return to the station on Friday after receiving the all clear from Quebec Public Health, the company says. In a statement in French,...
Calm before the COVID storm in Corus Q2
telecom | 04/01/2020 5:14 pm EDT
Corus Entertainment Inc. has deferred the declaration of its dividends in response to the uncertainty...
Canadian authorities in talks about COVID-19 tracking apps
telecom | 03/31/2020 5:54 pm EDT
Several of Canada’s cities and provinces, as well as the federal...
Telus Health ‘scaling up’ as COVID-19 spreads
telecom | 03/30/2020 5:11 pm EDT
Telus Corp.’s years-long investment in e-health and telemedicine has...
Quebecor, Cogeco lay off staff due to COVID-19
telecom | 03/27/2020 4:26 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc. and Cogeco Inc. have both announced staff layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Quebecor announced on Friday morning it would lay off 10 per cent of its workforce, which the company said amounted to about 1000...
Netflix lowers Canadian bit rate for next 30 days
telecom | 03/27/2020 12:44 pm EDT
Netflix Inc. has announced it will lower its bit rate in Canada by 25 per cent for the next 30 days, just days after three telecommunications associations publicly urged the streaming giant to lower rates to lessen network...
Teksavvy lays off staff, increases internet bills
telecom | 03/26/2020 6:39 pm EDT
Teksavvy Solutions Inc. has laid off 130 staff and will implement a flat $5 bill increase for its...
Networks coping, but future traffic impossible to predict
Media | 03/25/2020 5:48 pm EDT
Experts say Canada’s telecommunications networks are currently handling a...
Feds, 4 provinces not looking at COVID-19 phone tracking
telecom | 03/24/2020 12:39 pm EDT
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the federal government isn’t currently considering using location data from Canadians’ cellphones to track the spread of COVID-19, while representatives from the Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut governments also told...