Independent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and advocacy groups said Wednesday they’re encouraged by the federal government’s rejection of BCE Inc.’s appeal of the CRTC decision mandating wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, which could be the first glimpse into the new Liberal government’s telecom policy. The denial of the appeal to cabinet petition is a “very positive signal for consumers to let them know that this new government is serious about both maintaining telecom competition, but also about respecting the CRTC’s role and...
OTTAWA — Representatives from smaller telecommunications companies descended on Parliament Hill Tuesday, pushing for lawmakers to consult with them in the design of the new federal rural broadband program. “We found in the past, although our members have been able to access some funds, very often there’s a great deal of red tape involved,” Alyson Townsend, Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) president and CEO, said at a morning press conference. In its first budget, the Liberal government said it would introduce a $500 million rural broadband program. It has yet to...
Cogeco Inc. said Friday it is investing about $250,000 to expand its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to residents in Quebec’s Orford Township. The expansion will serve “several homes in the...
Telus Corp. announced Monday it will invest $4.5 billion towards new communications infrastructure across Alberta over the next three years. This year it will invest more than $900 million in order to extend its...
Telus Corp. announced Monday in a press release it is investing $2 billion towards new infrastructure in Quebec over the next five years. This year, Telus will invest $340 million in extending its fibre-to-the-home...
UPDATED — Telus Corp. is expanding its fibre-to-the-home rollout to the northeastern B.C. communities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Charlie Lake, the company announced in a pair of press releases. Telus will spend $10...
Among the arguments from BCE Inc. and those supporting its appeal to federal cabinet of the CRTC decision mandating wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks is that the ruling will slow development of high-speed Internet infrastructure in outlying areas. But the high costs involved with getting that infrastructure into rural and more-remote communities means they already weren't high on the priority list, which leaves it up to smaller, home-grown companies and government to fill the void, said independent telecom analyst Bill St. Arnaud. "Most communities are, at best,...
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said Wednesday the CRTC will stick to the course of action it has set despite disapproval by those who feel the CRTC’s direction “upsets their entitlements...
Toronto city council is backing the CRTC's decision to mandate wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, breaking with Toronto mayor John Tory who has already registered his support of BCE Inc.'s appeal of the...
Cogeco Inc. announced Monday it is investing $250,000 to roll out its fibre-to-the-home service to residential and business clients in Saint-Jérôme-de-Matane, Que., which is about 400 kilometres north...
Too much reliance on landline-phone-service revenue, combined with a heavy debt load, has resulted in Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. being placed in creditor protection and awaiting court...
The availability and adoption of gigabit Internet in Canada is expected to grow this year, with almost three per cent of Canadians subscribing to the service by the end of 2016, according to Deloitte...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron announced Thursday it has acquired Fibrenoire, a company that provides fibre-optic connectivity services to businesses, for $125 million. It said in a press release that acquiring the company would help “meet the growing demand from business customers for...
Small Internet service providers (ISPs) are asking the government to reject an appeal, filed by BCE Inc., of a CRTC decision that mandated access by smaller competitors to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)...
Beanfield Technologies Inc., an independent provider of fibre-based Internet, TV and phone services in Toronto, is asking the CRTC to help it gain access to one of the few condominium buildings it isn't already connected to in...
The CRTC has denied TekSavvy Solutions Inc.'s request for interim relief in a situation where Rogers Communications Inc. is slated to replace some legacy cable in a Toronto neighbourhood with fibre, leaving a certain number of households, for the time being, unable to become customers of TekSavvy or any other small Internet service provider (ISP) renting capacity on the local cable network. An application from TekSavvy that was posted on the CRTC website last week, indicating that the company was informed on Nov. 24 of Rogers' plans to "remove coaxial cable from a Toronto...
Newly released survey results show that almost 10 per cent of Canadians still do not have Internet access at home, and more people cite its relevance to their personal lives than affordability as a...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. announced Friday it will be deploying its InfiNet fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in residential areas of two cities in Saskatchewan by next year. SaskTel said in a press release...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is telling the CRTC to reject an application by BCE Inc. that asks the commission to amend its wholesale wireline decision. In October, Bell asked the CRTC...
BCE Inc. will cover about 90 per cent of its wireline footprint with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in a little less or a little more than a decade, though the issue of whether smaller Internet service providers will get mandated access...
TORONTO — The newly elected Liberal government has indicated infrastructure will be a priority, and that could include telecom infrastructure, said lawyer Chris Tacit during a panel discussion at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto on Wednesday. Tacit, a lawyer for the Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium (CNOC), which organized the conference, said that “there is a likelihood, with this government’s focus on infrastructure, that they might actually turn their focus in a much more meaningful way to broadband infrastructure.” He added:...
BCE Inc. announced Wednesday that the popularity of its Fibe TV service has made its the largest TV provider in Canada for the first time with more than 2.7 million customers across the country. Bell said in a press release that...
The idea of a merger between Canada's two biggest cable providers — Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. — is on the radar again, with at least two market analysts saying the conditions are right...
Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. was set to make its case against BCE Inc.’s appeal of the CRTC’s wholesale wireline decision to officials with Industry Canada on Thursday. Michael Nowlan, CEO of the independent...
Eastlink said Wednesday that it will begin offering Internet service with gigabit speeds to its residential customers in Halifax next month. The move follows similar launches by companies including Rogers Communications Inc., BCE...
In full election platforms released last week, the NDP is promising to implement changes to Canadian privacy law and look into Internet of Things (IoT) privacy, the Conservatives are pledging funding for rural broadband and...
Rogers Communications Inc. on Monday announced it is moving forward with two different kinds of technology — 4K video and gigabit-speed Internet — though one commentator says the success of either of these initiatives...
BCE Inc.’s Bell Aliant announced Tuesday it has enhanced its FibreOP Internet service for Atlantic Canada by increasing download speeds up to 1 Gbps. Bell Aliant said in a press release that the service, called Gigabit...
Axia NetMedia Corp. announced last week it is building fibre-optic Internet connections in additional rural communities in Alberta, which will be operational next year. It said in a press release Thursday that construction is...
Telecommunications and media have not been prominent issues in this year's federal election campaign, taking a backseat to things such as the Mike Duffy trial, the deficit and Syrian refugees. The Wire Report has made repeated attempts to talk with the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP about their stances toward telecom and media, but has been largely ignored. However, here is a look at statements, documents and publicly disclosed initiatives of the three major parties that are indicative of the positions they hold on telecom and media, or have at least held recently. Conservatives As...
Fibrant, a telecom company owned and operated by the City of Salisbury in North Carolina, and Calix Inc., a telecom equipment provider, announced this week that Salisbury, N.C., has become first city in the United States to get...
Cable companies have a steep cost advantage over telephone companies in the race to implement broadband Internet at gigabit speeds, says Scotia Capital telecom analyst Jeff Fan. It comes down to...
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday that, if re-elected, he will put another $200 million into fibre-based infrastructure for rural and remote locations currently lacking high-speed Internet. “Quite simply, there...
BCE Inc. announced Monday it has completed the first phase of launching its Gigabit Fibe Internet service, which is now available to about 1.3 million homes across Quebec and Ontario. Bell said in the release that the new service...
Canadian companies’ recent embrace of gigabit Internet isn’t meeting a need that exists in the market, but it is setting telecoms up for the day customers start demanding such speeds, according to Greg MacDonald, telecommunications analyst with Macquarie Capital Markets. “I think a lot of it is marketing to date,” he said in a phone interview. “There are not a lot of households, even, let alone individuals that will use a gigabyte speed. Having said that, if you look at the usage patterns, they’re going up fairly substantially.” Earlier this...
A day after the CRTC said it would mandate wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks by small ISPs, financial analysts said the move likely won’t have a significant impact on...
GATINEAU, Que. — Small ISPs and advocacy groups praised a move by the CRTC Wednesday mandating wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks and allowing small Internet service providers...
The CRTC will issue its decision on wireline wholesale services on Wednesday, the CRTC announced Monday. It will hold a lock-up session for the media at 2 p.m. and the decision will be released at 4 p.m., it said in a press...
The office of U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a program to bring broadband Internet to 275,000 low-income households across the country, in partnership with local governments and...
Cable companies are “poised to level the playing field” against telephone incumbents in the area of TV service as they launch more advanced technological services of their own, Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang...
Industry Canada on Thursday announced that it will provide funding to bring fibre-based Internet services to more than 800 homes in and around Durham, Ont., and 2,500 homes in the area of Kenora, Ont. A press release said about...
The proportion of Canadians connected to the Internet by fibre is rising and these people are more satisfied with their Internet service than others, according to market research data released...
Telus Corp. said Friday it will be expanding its fibre-optic network in Edmonton to connect directly to more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the city over the next six years. The company said in a press release that...
TORONTO — With a key decision from the CRTC on smaller service providers’ access to wireline telecommunications networks expected soon, three incumbents’ regulatory bosses took on their counterpart at TekSavvy Solutions Inc. over the issue at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday. During the so-called “Regulatory Blockbuster” panel discussion, TekSavvy chief regulatory officer Bram Abramson found himself arguing the merits of stronger oversight over the prices companies like his have to pay for access to networks owned by the major telecoms. “You’ll...
The CRTC should not give small Internet service providers the right to buy wholesale space on fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute says. A report released Thursday, written by...
A subsidiary of a Chinese fibre-optics company said Friday it has established Vancouver as its North American headquarters. F-Pacific, a division of China Fiber Optic Network System Group Ltd., had...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Tuesday that it has officially launched its fibre-to-the-home Internet service in Swift Current, Sask. SaskTel said in a press release that some customers have already been...
Athletes from across two continents competing in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto this summer will be able to connect with family and friends back home via high-speed fibre Internet connections...
The CRTC said Thursday that unless a developer provides BCE Inc. "timely access" to a Toronto condominium building about to accept new occupants, the other service providers that have been given access to the building, including Rogers Communications Inc., will not be permitted to provide services there. The commission said the other service provider that would be stopped from serving occupants in the Chaz Yorkville, developed by Edenshaw Homes Ltd., is Beanfield Technologies Inc., a Toronto-based service provider operating on its own fibre network. The CRTC said in a notice...
Telus Corp. said Wednesday it will spend $4 billion on infrastructure and facilities in its home province of British Columbia over the next four years, including $1 billion this year. The company said in a press release that the...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Thursday it plans to make about $313 million in capital expenditures in its home province this year, including $177 million on what it calls its "core Saskatchewan...
Telus Corp. said Monday it will spend $4.2 billion on infrastructure and facilities in Alberta between now and the end of 2018, including $1 billion in the current year. The company said in a press release that, when combined...
Small Internet service providers are taking the lead on providing gigabit Internet service in Canada, in contrast to the United States where Internet giant Google Inc. is pioneering efforts to bring...
Urban Communications Inc. said Thursday it has launched the first gigabit Internet service for Canadian residential users. The company said in a news release the service will cost $49 a month for...
Telus Corp. is spending $100 million to provide access to a fibre optic network to 90 per cent of the homes and businesses in the British Columbia communities of Kelowna and West Kelowna, it said Tuesday. It said in a press...
BCE Inc. announced Monday that the latest upgrade to the software for its Fibe TV service adds the ability to rewind and restart programs already in progress. The new Restart feature, which functions even if a user has not...
Montreal will support public WiFi and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections in a three-year plan. The document, presented by the municipal government Thursday, said the city plans to develop “ultra high speed multiservice...
U.S. President Barack Obama this week called for measures that would facilitate more investment from various levels of government to improve broadband Internet performance. He made a speech Wednesday in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where there is a municipally built Internet network that provides speed 100 times faster than the national U.S. average, according to a report in USA Today. Obama said in his speech that he wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to "push back" against 19 states that prevent municipalities from building their own Internet services, according the USA...
After a decade of consumers being the trendsetters in the adoption of emerging technology, the enterprise sector will take on a bigger role in 2015 as leaders in the use of cutting-edge IT products,...
GATINEAU, Que. — On Wednesday, the first day of replies in the CRTC’s wholesale wireline hearing, the regulator was consistently asked to look to the future in determining how best to...
GATINEAU, Que. — Three consumer groups opened the second week of the CRTC hearing into wholesale wireline connections by telling the regulator to expand its wholesale access regulations to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP)...
GATINEAU, Que. — Shaw Communications Inc. on Friday took a different tack than other large Internet service providers that have spoken before the CRTC’s wholesale wireline...
BCE Inc.’s Bell Aliant division has passed one million homes and businesses with its fibre-to-the-home network, the company said in a press release Friday. “Customers can continue to expect more as Bell is committed to continue its momentum for broadband and wireless growth with a $2.1-billion investment over the next five years to extend broadband services in the region. Bell's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) footprint is now the largest in Canada,” the press release said. The Wire Report reported a year ago that Bell Aliant, which was recently acquired by...
GATINEAU, Que. — Two Canadian Internet service providers told the CRTC on Thursday that opening up fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks to wholesale access could hurt the “fragile”...
GATINEAU, Que. — Representatives from Canada’s small Internet service providers on Tuesday asked the CRTC to open up more of the incumbents’ broadband networks, mandating wholesale...
GATINEAU, Que. — CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said during the first day of the CRTC’s hearing into its wholesale wireline regulations that his commission needs to be a...
Netflix isn’t the only game in town anymore. In recent weeks, Canadian and American TV giants have made a number of announcements about new over-the-top (OTT) video services — HBO and CBS revealing new streaming...
BCE Inc. said Monday that its acquisition of Bell Aliant Inc. is complete. It said that on Friday, it gained control through compulsory acquisition of the last 12 million shares of Bell Aliant that had not been tendered. Before...
The CRTC faces another major policy hearing next month, and this one has the potential to affect independent Internet service providers that depend on major telecom companies to connect them to customers. In September, the...
Bell Aliant Inc. said in a press release Thursday that it will extend its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to another 4,177 premises in three communities in New Brunswick. It added that it has invested $122 million since 2009 to...
The Competition Bureau said Wednesday that Bell Aliant Inc. has responded to the bureau's concerns surrounding its purchase of an Ontario-government-owned telecommunications provider. The bureau said in a press release Bell...
Bell Aliant Inc. said Monday that fibre-to-the-home connections are now available in Quebec, with three communities on its FibreOP network immediately and four more to be connected before the end of the year. Bell Aliant said in a press release that its FibreOP service, which it uses to deliver Internet download speeds of up to 250 Mbps, along with TV and home-phone services, is now available in Alma, Saguenay and Victoriaville. It said FibreOP would be brought to Saint-Félicien in October, and Rivière-du-Loup, Roberval and Thetford Mines before the end of the year. In...
Data released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on Tuesday shows Canada falls well short of the average of economically advanced countries in terms of wireless-broadband...
Bell Aliant Inc. is expanding its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to seven Quebec communities, the company said Tuesday. The company will spend about $70 million to extend its FibreOP service to Alma, Saint-Félicien,...
Bell Labs, the research arm of French telecom hardware maker Alcatel-Lucent, announced on Wednesday that it has set a new broadband speed record of 10 gigabits per second over traditional copper telephone lines. In a press...
BCE Inc. is rolling out a city-wide fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Kingston, Ont. The company said in a press release Thursday that it would invest $40 million in building the network. Kingston is the second municipality in...
Telus Corp. said Tuesday it will invest more than $1.3 billion in new infrastructure and facilities across Quebec between now and 2016. It said in a press release that it would invest $640 million across the province as part of the final year of a three-year plan launched in 2012. Telus said it would spend another $700 million in 2015 and 2016 to build infrastructure. Among the things the money is going toward, Telus said, is fibre-to-the-home for faster Internet connections, expanding its LTE wireless network, making Optik TV available to more people and improving its health-services...
DragonWave Inc. announced Monday that John Lawlor has rejoined the company to head its investor relations operations. The company said in a press release Lawlor was its vice-president of investor relations between 2009 and 2013....
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Thursday it will expand its fibre-to-the-home network to Oakbank, Man., about 30 kilometres east of downtown Winnipeg, later this year. Expanding its MTS FiON network will give residents of...
Bell Aliant Inc. said Wednesday it is expanding its fibre-optic network to three towns in Newfoundland, making its FibreOP service available to an additional 8,100 homes and businesses. Harbour Grace, Deer Lake and Stephenville...
SaskTel said it plans to spend $55 million on its fibre-to-the-home program this year, with a focus on adding 18,000 customers to its fibre-optic network service, known as InfiNet. The $55 million is part of plans to spend about...
A lack of competition is behind slow upload speeds for Canadian broadband Internet customers, according to analyst Alan Breznick, and only the entry of a disruptive force like Google Inc. will bring the country up to speed....
Unless BCE Inc. is allowed to install its infrastructure in a Toronto condo building, as of March 31, Rogers Communications Inc. will not be allowed to provide services to its residents either, the...
Canada’s largest Internet providers are launching an early offensive against potential new rules that could require them to give their smaller competitors access to their fibre-to-the-home...
The average Canadian is currently less likely to have access to the fast Internet speeds offered by fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology than the average American, but Canada is catching up. The companies building FTTH networks in...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Friday it has expanded its fibre-optic network to Stonewall, Man., which is about 35 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. The company said bringing its MTS FiON network to Stonewall will allow residents there to access its MTS Ultimate TV services and “ultra-fast” Internet. MTS said this latest expansion is part of its multi-year program to bring fibre-to-the-home to more than 20 communities in Manitoba. It listed 14 areas in which it has launched MTS FiON since 2010, including Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson. ...
Bell Aliant Inc. is expanding its FibreOp fibre-to-the-home network to Sturgeon Falls, Ont., the company said. Bell Aliant, which BCE Inc. has 44 per cent stake in, expanded the network last month to Bay Roberts, Carbonear,...