Recently released results of a survey for the Pew Research Center showed U.S. workers ranked landline phones as more important for their jobs than cellphones but less important than email and the Internet. The Pew report, released Dec. 30, showed email ranked as "very important" to the jobs of 61 per cent of respondents. That was followed by the Internet at 54 per cent, landline phones at 35 per cent, cell and smartphones at 24 per cent, and social networking sites at four per cent. The results were based on an online survey with 535 Internet users who are employed and at least 18...
The CRTC said Thursday that it has decided how its video relay system, which will help hearing-impaired people make phone calls, will be administered. The administrator’s responsibilities will include selecting the technology the service will use, creating an awareness campaign, ensuring the confidentiality of users and reporting to the CRTC, the commission said in a press release. The regulator said the service would be administered independently from the CRTC and would be operational at the end of 2015 at the earliest. The process for setting up the service was delayed earlier this...
Canadian telecom service providers told the government that surveillance capabilities would soon become a normal feature of their networks, according to an Ottawa academic. Quoting documents obtained...
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...
MONTREAL — Business customers have become more knowledgeable about technology and more specific about their telecommunications needs, said Michael Strople, president of Manitoba Telecom Services...
Q9 Network Inc., a Toronto-based provider of data centre services, said Tuesday that Bell Aliant CEO Karen Sheriff would become its president and CEO as of Jan. 5. Sheriff has been CEO of Bell Aliant since 2008. She is slated to...
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 “doctor” rather than a “coroner” for the telecom industry. In an exchange with Patrick Hughes, a senior economist at the Competition Bureau, Blais said the commission must anticipate changes in the telecom industry in order to enact effective regulation. In its filings to the CRTC, the...
The CRTC said Thursday that Cogeco Cable Inc. must adopt an automated, cross-industry customer-transfer system for its television and Internet operations by the new year. In it decision, the...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Monday that Jay Forbes will replace Pierre Blouin as chief executive. It said in a press release that Forbes will assume the role on Jan. 1, one day after Blouin retires. Blouin's pending...
New legislation proposed by the federal government will expand the powers of the CRTC, giving it the ability to fine offenders, share information with the Competition Bureau and exert control over companies that operate telecom...
BCE Inc. is having more problems with a condominium developer operating in Toronto that it has previously filed complaints about. A letter posted on the CRTC's website this week shows Bell felt...
The CRTC is concerned with “much bigger issues with greater ramifications down the road” than the question of whether it will regulate over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix, CRTC...
BCE Inc. on Thursday reported higher revenue and profit numbers for the third quarter as it added subscribers to its its wireless, Internet and TV businesses and saw a jump in mobile-data revenue. The company said in a press...
Telus Corp. on Thursday reported quarterly revenue that topped $3 billion for the first time. Growth of 5.4 per cent from a year earlier gave the company revenue of $3.03 billion for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, the company...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. on Wednesday reported lower third-quarter earnings and revenue, despite adding subscribers to its main retail categories. The company said in a press release that its revenue in the quarter was down...
Some carriers are having more difficulty than others adjusting to life under the CRTC’s wireless code, according to the latest annual report from the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). Of the 30 occasions the CCTS confirmed a breach of the wireless code between when it came into effect on Dec.2 last year and the end of July, 20 of them involved BCE Inc., according to the report released Tuesday. The report said Bell brand was responsible for 12 breaches of the code, its Virgin Mobile Canada brand had seven and NorthernTel, a division of BCE-controlled...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Monday that Mary Ann Turcke was appointed group president of its media sales division for local TV and radio. Bell Media said, effective immediately, Turcke fills the role that was held by Luc...
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...
Canadian telecom service providers got more money from their customers last year largely as a result of increased wireless data usage and demand for faster Internet, the CRTC said Thursday. Overall...
Shaw Communications Inc. has reached a sponsorship deal with the operators of the Ottawa Convention Centre, resulting in the venue being renamed the Shaw Centre, effective immediately. Shaw said in a press release that the arrangement is for 10 years. No financial terms were disclosed. The facility is owned by the Ontario government. "The Shaw Centre reflects our commitment to strengthening our presence with our customers, communities, regulatory and government stakeholders in the nation's capital," Shaw CEO Brad Shaw said in the release. Shaw's brand has a limited public...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Tuesday that Jacob Glick will start work next month in the newly created position of chief corporate affairs officer. Previously, Glick headed Google Inc.'s global public policy and government relations team, and before that took on the same responsibilities...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has opened a new Winnipeg facility for monitoring and managing its network infrastructure, the company said in a press release Thursday. The Manitoba Network Operations Centre will also “act...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced it is releasing a new hockey app that will give customers access to new camera angles and additional content like interviews and analysis. “Exclusive to Rogers’ customers, and it...
BCE Inc. and Bell Aliant Inc. said Friday that a vast majority of the common shares of the latter have been tendered to the former, and that the whole deal should be completed on or around the end of this month. The companies...
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...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. on Wednesday joined other telecom providers in releasing a transparency report, which showed that it received 11,857 requests for information last year from government agencies and...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with its unions and retirees regarding a pension plan that was in dispute following its 1997 privatization and was subject to a Supreme Court decision early...
The CRTC on Wednesday said it was awarding the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) almost $20,000 in costs for expenses incurred in three different proceedings, to be covered by various telecommunications companies. One of the...
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...
John Boynton and Shelagh Stoneham, two Rogers Communications Inc. executives who left in the wake of its corporate overhaul this year, have both found other jobs. Boynton, formerly the chief marketing officer at Rogers, is now...
Much has been made this week about the practice of levying extra fees for the privilege of getting a physical bill for telecommunications services, and some industry watchers are downplaying the...
Hours after a meeting between telecommunications companies and CRTC officials regarding paper-billing charges that failed to end in a result satisfactory to policy-makers, Industry Minister James Moore said via social media...
The CRTC is still trying to establish the structure and mandate for an administrator that would oversee its planned video-relay system to help hearing-impaired people make phone calls, with a deadline for a proposal and associated...
Bragg Communications Inc., which operates Eastlink, won’t be buying Bruce Telecom, the Competition Bureau said Friday. The bureau said in a press release that it reviewed the proposed acquisition and concluded that had it “proceeded as proposed, it would have likely resulted in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the towns of Port Elgin and Paisley, [Ont.], where the two firms are the only providers of wireline telecommunications services.” The two companies “ultimately decided to abandon the proposed transaction,” it added. The...
Northwestel Inc. has been given permission to dismantle most of its "manual mobile service" sites in the North due to declining usage and increasing difficulty in maintaining the infrastructure. The CRTC said Wednesday...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said on Tuesday its chief executive officer, Pierre Blouin, will retire this year. The company said in a press release that its board of directors has started looking for a new CEO, and a new...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says up to $600 million a year is at stake as the CRTC gets set to meet with telecommunications companies to discuss the practice of charging customers to...
Saving money, simplifying operations and creating a stronger telecom competitor in Atlantic Canada were among the reasons cited for why BCE Inc. is seeking ownership of all parts of Bell Aliant Inc....
Rogers Communications Inc. has cut "several hundred middle management positions" and reduced the number of people working at the level of vice-president and above by 15 per cent, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday....
The CRTC said Monday it has granted Northwestel Inc. permission to charge extra to customers who subscribe to its Internet service without its landline phone service. The commission added that it has...
Telecommunications companies increased prices most, proportionally, over the last year for those subscribing to the lowest-end wireless, broadband-Internet and home-phone plans, according to a report...
About 41 per cent of households in the United States had access to only mobile phone services with no landline connection in the second half of 2013, according to a new government report. The Centers for Disease Control and...
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 release, the company said its technology, XG-Fast, could allow existing copper networks to attain speeds previously only possible on fibre-optic lines. Besides hitting 10-gigabit speeds over 30 metres in a laboratory setting, Bell Labs used XG-Fast to maintain a symmetrical 1 Gbps connection over 70 metres in a reproduction of real-world conditions, the company said....
Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. on Thursday named four new vice-presidents that it said will help lead "the transformation of Canada's largest alternative telecommunications service provider." It said in a...
The CRTC said on Thursday both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the DiversityCanada Foundation are owed costs they incurred to make submissions in a CRTC proceeding on whether wireline...
Sierra Wireless Inc. chief financial officer David McLennan has been named to the board of the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), a public-private parternship that provides money for Canadian media producers, the group said in a press...
The CRTC said Wednesday that it has denied a request from Wightman Telecom Ltd. for Rogers Communications Inc.'s wireless home-phone service to be classified as a competitive local exchange...
BCE Inc. has asked the CRTC to force Cogeco Cable Inc. to implement an automated system for facilitating the transfer of customers between different telecommunications companies by the start of next year. In a June 20 letter to the CRTC, Bell noted the CRTC's 2011 decision that determined that providers of voice, Internet and TV service could act on behalf of new customers to have their old accounts with their old service providers cancelled. It also referred a decision from the CRTC last year that said carriers should adopt a standardized automated system for customer transfer by May...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings took a hit as its television subscriber base continued to decline and its media division took in less money. The company said in a press release that net income...
The CRTC said Wednesday that registrations on Canada's do-not-call list will now be permanent. Previously, those that registered phone numbers with this database would have had to register again after six years....
The proportion of Canadian households using cellphones exclusively for their telephone service was 21 per cent last year, and a clear majority of households where all members are younger than 35 were using mobile only, Statistics...
The CRTC said Friday that the implementation date for a new area code in southwestern Ontario has been pushed back a year as new information indicates numbers within existing area codes there will not run out as quickly as...
The Senate committee dealing with the Digital Privacy Act failed to pass an amendment, on a tie vote, that would have required companies to inform individuals if their personal information was being...
You’d be forgiven for thinking that voice calling is becoming less important to the telecommunications industry. Figures from corporations and government have shown, in recent years, a decline in those subscribing to...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings were up as expenses declined in the face of lower revenue. The company’s financial statements indicated it had net income of $41.9 million in the...
BCE Inc. improved its bottom line in this year’s first quarter as wireless data revenue surged and last year’s purchase of Astral Media contributed to its overall revenue. Revenue was up...
Bell Aliant Inc. on Tuesday reported declines in both first-quarter revenue and profit. The company’s financial records indicated that revenue came in at $675.7 million, down 1.2 per cent from the previous year. Net earnings for the quarter were $76.7 million, down from $89.3 million in the first quarter of 2013. Bell Aliant’s figures showed it had a 3.9-per cent increase in revenue from its Internet business, a 43.5-per cent gain from its television service and a 4.9-per cent gain from other data revenue. That was more than offset by declines such as a 5.4-per cent drop in...
Verizon Communications Inc. said earnings and revenue were up in the first quarter largely on strength from the wireless side of the business. The company’s financial figures released Thursday showed revenue was up 4.8 per...
AT&T on Tuesday said its first quarter featured its strongest year-to-year revenue growth in more than two years. The U.S. telecommunications company said in a press release that revenue in the three months ended March 31 was...
For the coming year, CRTC has prioritized issues including the ongoing review of Canada’s television-broadcasting system and looking into what telecommunications services should be accessible to...
The CRTC said Tuesday that it will establish a video relay service for users of American Sign Language and Langue des signes québécoise. Last year, the commission held a consultation on whether video sign language...
The CRTC on Wednesday said it had approved new procedures in the operation of the National Contribution Fund, including a provision that requires recipients to file monthly reports. The fund was established in the 1990s. It collects money from telecommunications service providers to subsidize residential phone service in rural and remote areas to maintain what the CRTC calls “just and reasonable” rates for service in those areas. New measures approved by the CRTC include: requiring recipients of subsidies to file monthly reports on their services that are eligible for funding;...
Telus Corp. said on Twitter Tuesday it is hiring for 360 jobs. The company included a link to its website where it listed the jobs available. There are open positions in regions across the country. Many of jobs are in sales....
Shaw Communications Inc. said Monday it is reorganizing the company’s telecommunications businesses into two units that will focus on either consumer or business services. It said in a press release it would consolidate its...
Cogeco Cable Inc. on Wednesday reported higher second-quarter numbers for both profit and revenue, helped along by an acquisition that took effect about a year earlier. The company said in a press release that revenue for the...
The CRTC will exempt BCE Inc. and Bell Aliant Inc. (in which BCE Inc. has 44 per cent stake) from regulation of its local residential wireline services in its territories in Ontario, Quebec and...
The man who led Telus Corp.’s evolution from a Western Canada-focused home-phone services provider to what one analyst called “arguably the most successful wireless carrier in North America” is stepping down as...
A group of academics has received responses from most of the telecommunications companies they questioned about practices and policies relating to sharing customer information with government authorities, though these responses...
Telus Corp. is “assessing” the pricing plans it makes available to Public Mobile subscribers as it works to migrate those customers onto its LTE network this year, the company’s chief commercial officer said....
Cogeco Cable Inc. said Wednesday that it has launched home-phone service in three Quebec communities. It said the service is now available in St-Simon-les-Mines, Roxton Falls and Notre-Dame-des-Pins. The company announced...
BCE Inc. CEO George Cope called the company’s wireline data revenue growth the “highlight” of its fourth-quarter results, released Thursday. “From my perspective, the highlight of the quarter is the data revenue growth in wireline of four per cent,” Cope said in a conference call with analysts. Wireline data revenue came in at $1.51 billion during the quarter, BCE said in a press release, driven by services to businesses and higher residential revenue from Internet and television customers. Bell said this helped slow the pace of wireline...
The percentage of Canadian households saying they use just a cellphone and no landline rose to 15.7 per cent in 2012, according to Statistics Canada’s survey of household spending for that year, which was released Wednesday...
People who use cellphones and not home phones spend more time on the Internet and watch more online TV, Media Technology Monitor said in a new report. MTM, a joint research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and BBM Analytics, said...