Canada’s second-largest mobile operator by users Telus has joined its main nationwide rivals Rogers and Bell in offering voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), although the service is currently only available to post-paid Telus customers with LTE SIM cards in Lower Mainland British Columbia, while device compatibility is initially limited to the Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4, writes Canadian website MobileSyrup. The operator plans to expand VoLTE coverage and add more compatible devices throughout 2016. In a sta...

Swedish-based technology giant Ericsson has renewed its agreement with privately-owned Atlantic Canada-based quad-play operator Eastlink to expand and upgrade its 4G LTE and 3G HSPA mobile networks. The agreement is an extension of the two companies’ current contract. Eastlink will continue utilising Ericsson Evolved Packet Core equipment and the Swedish firm will remain as the multi-service cableco’s exclusive supplier for radio access network equipment for an additional three years. Matthew Ma...

Canadian cableco Shaw Communications has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in cellco Wind Mobile for approximately CAD1.6 billion (USD1.163 billion). The takeover, if completed, would be the first foray into the mobile sector for Shaw, which vies closely with Rogers Communications for the title of Canada’s largest cable broadband provider, and previously aborted a planned cellular network rollout of its own, opting to sell its spectrum instead. Shaw’s CEO Brad Shaw declared yesterday: ‘The acqui...

Canada’s Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) has signed a binding agreement to sell its national long-distance and enterprise telecoms unit Allstream to US-based corporate and wholesale communications infrastructure provider Zayo Group in an all-cash CAD465 million (USD347.6 million) transaction. Zayo says that acquiring Allstream’s fibre and colocation assets will establish it as ‘the only Pan-US/Canada Communications Infrastructure provider’. Allstream has over 9,000 route kilometres of metro fibr...

Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) has posted total operating revenue of CAD5.345 billion (USD4.061 billion) in Q3 2015, up by 2.9% year-on-year, while quarterly adjusted EBITDA was up 3.4% to CAD2.187 billion on positive growth across all Bell operating segments, reflecting y-o-y increases of 8.3% at Bell Wireless, 1.1% at Bell Wireline and 0.5% at Bell Media. Q3 net customer additions reached 68,000 in IPTV, 58,000 in fixed broadband and 77,655 post-paid mobile customers, while Bell also reported n...

Western Canada’s largest telco Telus Communications has announced a plan to invest an additional CAD1 billion (USD760 million) to connect the majority of homes and businesses in the city of Vancouver directly to the company’s fibre optic network over the next five years. In a release on the quadruple-play operator’s website, CEO Darren Entwhistle said that the rollout in the British Columbian city would add more than 400,000 homes, businesses, hospitals, community centres and municipal offices t...

Nationwide operators Telus and Bell Canada were declared winners of residual AWS-3 (2100MHz/1700MHz) 4G spectrum licences at the end of August in the ‘leftover’ concession auction run by Industry Canada. Telus paid CAD58 million (USD43.8 million) for six additional AWS-3 licence blocks covering Manitoba and Saskatchewan, while Bell secured another nine AWS-3 concessions (three in each of the Far North territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) costing CAD206,000. The two national ope...

Canadian nationwide rural fixed-wireless broadband provider Xplornet Communications has agreed to acquire 100% of Calgary-based WiMAX network operator Platinum Communications for CAD0.16 (USD0.12) per share in cash. Platinum operates a wireless broadband network offering internet and digital phone services to residents and businesses across the province of Alberta, catering primarily to rural and near-urban areas that are often beyond the reach of traditional (fixed) internet providers. Bernard ...

Bell Canada claims it is the first in North America to roll out commercial tri-band LTE Advanced (LTE-A) network technology, giving customers in Toronto, Hamilton, Oakville and Halifax access to mobile data downlink speeds up to a theoretical maximum 290Mbps from 21 August 2015, when the new Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 smartphones become available. Expected average mobile data speeds are 12Mbps to 87Mbps. Bell will expand its new tri-band 290Mbps LTE-A network – based on 700MHz, 210...

Bell Canada yesterday announced the official first-phase launch of its 1Gbps-capable direct fibre-based broadband service Gigabit Fibe, available to approximately 1.3 million homes in locations across Quebec and Ontario, enabling access to speed tiers of 15Mbps, 25Mbps, 50Mbps, 150Mbps, 300Mbps and 940Mbps. Bell’s CTO Stephen Howe announced in a press release that Gigabit Fibe will be made available to a further 650,000 premises in the Atlantic provinces in September, and to 250,000 more in Queb...

Canada’s fourth largest cellular operator by subscribers Wind Mobile has won approval from the telecoms ministry Industry Canada to transfer its unused AWS (1700MHz/2100MHz) spectrum licences in the Prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the two regions’ respective incumbent telcos Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS Allstream) and SaskTel, which will each add the frequencies to their existing 4G LTE bandwidth. SaskTel CEO Ron Styles said in a press release: ‘Our 4G LTE network in the nine...

Quebec-based quadruple-play operator Videotron has confirmed plans to introduce broadband speeds of 1Gbps-plus on its cable network, up from its current top speed of 200Mbps. A press release said that Videotron is enabling households and businesses in the Greater Montreal area to reach ‘and even exceed’ 1Gbps, with testing of the new service ongoing in the city. Thanks to TeleGeography for the article. 

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) yesterday announced new measures in the wholesale fixed broadband market, including a ruling forcing the country’s largest internet providers to open up their high speed fibre-based access networks to smaller rivals. The regulator said the measures are to foster competition and provide Canadians with more choice and innovative services at reasonable prices. Following an extensive review, the CRTC found that: ‘the large incumb...

Bell Canada has announced it is launching 1Gbps fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services under the Gigabit Fibe banner, initially for 50,000 homes and businesses in Toronto during summer 2015, with a target of eventually delivering 1Gbps services to 1.1 million premises across the city. Bell will also launch Gigabit Fibe in selected locations in other cities in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces before the end of 2015. Services will initially offer a maximum 940Mbps speed but will rise to the p...

Canada’s two largest mobile operators by users, Rogers and Telus, have recently tabled takeover offers for financially struggling smaller cellco Mobilicity, although any potential deal is subject to federal government approval under strict wireless spectrum transfer rules aimed at preserving competition, the Financial Post reports. According to sources quoted by the paper, a group of creditors and directors of Mobilicity met over the weekend to assess offers from both national operators exceedin...

Bell Canada has begun the rollout of an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network offering mobile data download speeds of up to 220Mbps on selected CAT 6 devices including Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6/Edge and HTC One M9. The following cities will be the first to receive Bell’s LTE-A services: Greater Toronto Area, Fredericton, Sydney, Charlottetown and Halifax. According to Canadian tech website MobileSyrup, Bell is providing the 220Mbps speeds via its Band 7 (2600MHz) spectrum and carrier ag...

Xplornet Communications, Canada’s leading rural high speed internet specialist, has launched its new 25Mbps LTE-based fixed-wireless broadband service in the province of Alberta, it announced on its website. Xplornet says it will continue to roll out upgraded speeds to other rural communities across Canada, aiming to make 25Mbps internet available nationwide by 2017. Last month Xplornet – which operates hybrid WiMAX/satellite and TD-LTE broadband platforms – acquired 42 blocks of 2500MHz spectru...

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by Canada’s main mobile operators to delay the full implementation of the country’s ‘wireless code of conduct’, the Financial Post reports. The code was introduced by regulator CRTC in June 2013 to provide better consumer protection against high mobile roaming charges and wireless contract cancellation fees. A group of cellcos including the three nationwide network operators Rogers, Telus and Bell (BCE Inc) launched legal action last July after rais...

Canada’s Industry Minister James Moore yesterday (12 May 2015) announced the list of provisional licence winners in the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) spectrum auction in the 2500-2690MHz (‘2500MHz’) band. 302 of 318 licences on offer in 61 areas across Canada were awarded to nine companies, with a total value of CAD755.37 million (USD626.49 million), after eleven participants were qualified to bid in the auction which opened on 14 April. The 2500MHz band licensing was particularly aimed at provi...

Canada’s Competition Bureau has approved a transaction under which Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and its national quadruple-play telecoms rival Rogers Communications will take 50% equity each in retailer Glentel (Canada), following the latter’s acquisition by BCE which is set for completion on 20 May. Glentel will continue to sell mobile products from both operators at its 494 retail locations across Canada (which are run under names including WirelessWave, Tbooth wireless, Wireless Etc and Targ...