The CRTC finally approved BCE’s acquisition of Astra Media, the second time that BCE presented a deal for approval. In this version of the deal BCE has sold interests and will divest itself of several other properties to fall under the thresholds for media...
Roland Renner
The Wireless Industry Code
The CRTC released the Wireless Industry Code on Monday. The Code itself has 8 pages of rules and 2 pages of definitions and is accompanied by a 1-pager entitled “Your Rights as a Consumer” which has a handy checklist that anyone can use to see if their supplier is...
Mobile Wireless Competitors for Sale
It is clear that Industry Canada and the CRTC do not want a re-consolidation to occur. It is less clear if they can adjust the rules more in favour of competition.
BCE Acquisition of Astral Media Round 2 Part 3 – Telus Strategy vs BCE Strategy
Given BCE’s history in the content business, the Telus strategy has a lot going for it.
Featured News
How to Turn Free Citizens Into Compliant Serfs
Free citizens have minds of their own and want to pursue their lives as they see fit. This is inconvenient for the elites, who wish to be in charge of everyone’s lives so that they can show their superiority and gain benefit for themselves and their friends. So the...
Demographia International Housing Affordability – 2023 Edition Released
Demographia International Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability in 94 major housing markets in eight nations: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This edition covers the third...
The Online Snooping Act – They got it wrong
Sometimes it is better to retreat! This is certainly the case for the federal Conservatives with the Online Surveillance Act as it is often called. Whether it is called the Lawful Access Act or the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, it is way over the...
Mobile Phone Prices Challenged by New Entrant in France
Exciting changes are happening in the pricing for mobile phone services and the direction is down. The biggest noise is coming from France where “Free” launched a service for 20 Euros per month - a shocking challenge to the market leaders that has France abuzz and is...
Blinded by Orthodoxy – Why the telephone companies don’t run the Internet
Why didn’t AT&T or the Yellow Pages develop a dominant browser instead of Yahoo, Google, or Bing (Microsoft)? How did Skype make a success of videoconferencing when the telcos couldn’t do it? Why don’t the telephone companies run the Internet?
A recent article in the Report on Business raised the issue of orthodoxies in corporate cultures that block the ability of successful organizations from recognizing disruptive threats and opportunities that can turn their business models upside down.
Missed opportunities in telecom and UBB
Although the telcos are major ISPs, Yahoo and Google dominate the search engine market. Bell's Sympatico wasn't a bad try at a portal for a telco ISP but it never really captured the market or led to big successes in other applications areas. How could North...
There is More at Stake in Internet Pricing than Watching Movies: A perspective on internet Usage Based Billing
In Bell Canada’s proposed Usage Based Billing (UBB), there is more at stake than just the cost of internet fees for high users.
Usage Based Billing for Internet Access and the Future of the Internet: Internet pricing has important repercussion beyond entertainment value
The Bell UBB proposal for residential internet access is closely connected with changes in how Canadians watch video, and building the capacity for the next generation of internet, particularly in the last mile. The decisions taken over the next few months should continue the policy of promoting competitive options that have generated so much of the creativity in the industry.
Basic Cable – What will Skinny Basic do for Us?
One of the questions the CRTC has been reviewing lately is the idea of skinny basic. The idea here is to have a smaller basic service, the entry level package at the lowest price for a video package from your cable, satellite or telco video provider. You must buy...
Telecommuting and Broadband Access – A Great Example
Here is a great example of someone using Internet, Skype and video capability to create a business. In this case it's a virtual fitness studio with ballet inspired routines that people access over the Internet from their homes. This is a very timely example with the...
More on CRTC Vertical Integration Hearing
One press report described the hearing as being about "a slew of new rules" in the new scenario where distributors own content. What kind of rules are we talking about? Before vertical integration, content owners wanted their content to be on as many distribution...