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TELECOM UPDATE
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published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca
Number 493: August 19, 2005
Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions
** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/
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IN THIS ISSUE:
** Policy Panel Gets 97 Submissions
** Bell to Trial Next-Gen Wireless 9-1-1
** Telus Scores Big Win Over Bell
** Videotron Expands Cable Phone Service
** Shaw Says MTS Stalling on Porting Numbers
** Rogers, Bell Launch Cellphone TV
** Bell Boosts DSL Speeds
** Vancouver Exhibition Bars Telus
** Loblaws Offers Private-Label Cellphones
** Avaya Ships Seven Million IP Phones
** One Million in UK Block Telemarketers
** BCI Class Action Suits End
** Survey Shows Rural/Urban Broadband Gap
** Telecom, IT Profits Rise
** Microsoft Releases Anti-Zotob Tool
** Correction
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POLICY PANEL GETS 97 SUBMISSIONS: This week the Telecom Policy Review
Panel received submissions from incumbent telcos, cablecos, other
competitors, consumer and business groups, industry associations, and
telecom manufacturers, as well as the governments of seven provinces
and the Northwest Territories.
** Bell Canada's 1,000-page submission argues that most
economic regulation of incumbent telcos is no longer
necessary. It says the regulator should have to justify
any use of regulation, rather than reliance on market
forces, and wants many CRTC activities to be handled
instead by competition authorities. It wants the Telecom
Act rewritten; in the meantime Cabinet should instruct the
CRTC to adhere to seven guidelines outlined by Bell.
** Telus wants regulations relaxed so that incumbents can
respond more quickly to market conditions and are not
subject to different rules than their competitors.
** Many submissions stress the need to "finish the job" of
extending broadband service to all rural communities.
** The range of topics and opinions is much too broad to
summarize here: to view all the submissions, go to the
Panel's website.
www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/h_rx00025e.html
BELL TO TRIAL NEXT-GEN WIRELESS 9-1-1: Next month Bell Mobility will begin
a six-month trial of new GPS-based wireless 9-1-1 technology that can
determine a caller's position within 150 meters, for 95% of calls. Bell
says about half of its customers' phones, and almost all new mobile
phones, have Global Positioning System capability.
TELUS SCORES BIG WIN OVER BELL: General Motors of Canada, based in
Oshawa, Ontario, has awarded Telus Business Solutions a five-year
$11-million contract to provide its IP One hosted IP-based phone
service to 5,000 employees, using Nortel's MCS 5200 multimedia
platform.
VIDEOTRON EXPANDS CABLE PHONE SERVICE: Videotron's VoIP phone service
is now available to 825,000 households in Montreal. The Videotron
service, priced at $21.95/month, or $15.95 for customers of two other
services, already has 62,500 customers in Quebec. (See Telecom Update
#466)
SHAW SAYS MTS STALLING ON PORTING NUMBERS: Shaw Telecom says Manitoba
Tel is rejecting many requests to transfer Winnipeg phone numbers to
Shaw, and is telling customers that they cannot move to Shaw's Digital
Phone service if they have MTS Internet or TV service. Shaw has asked
the CRTC to expedite handling of this issue.
www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/s61_200509490.htm
ROGERS, BELL LAUNCH CELLPHONE TV: Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility
introduced television service over their cellular networks last week,
offering sports and news programs. Charge: $25/month (Rogers);
$10/month plus usage (Bell).
** In Broadcasting Public Notice 2005-82, the CRTC seeks
comment on a regulatory framework to govern such services.
Bell, Rogers, and Telus have all argued that their
proposed services should be exempt from regulation.
Submissions are due September 12.
www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pb2005-82.htm
BELL BOOSTS DSL SPEEDS: Bell Canada is increasing the speed of its
High-Speed Ultra DSL service in Ontario and Quebec to 5 Mbps for
consumer customers and 6 Mbps for small and medium business customers.
VANCOUVER EXHIBITION BARS TELUS: The Pacific National Exhibition,
owned by the City of Vancouver, says it will not allow Telus to
install, change, or repair equipment on the fair's site during the
current strike.
LOBLAWS OFFERS PRIVATE-LABEL CELLPHONES: Loblaws stores in Alberta and
B.C. now offer a prepaid cellular service under the name President's
Choice Mobile. The underlying carrier is Bell Mobility.
AVAYA SHIPS SEVEN MILLION IP PHONES: Avaya says it has now shipped
more than seven million IP-based telephone lines for business
customers worldwide. Synergy Research Group says Avaya has 21% of the
global IP telephony market.
ONE MILLION IN UK BLOCK TELEMARKETERS: In mid-July the UK phone
company BT introduced Telephone Preference Service, similar to the
U.S. Do-Not-Call list. Companies are legally prohibited from making
unsolicited sales and marketing calls to numbers on the list. In the
first four weeks more than one million households signed up -- that's
30,000 a day, one every three seconds.
** Bill C-37, allowing the CRTC to create a Canadian Do Not Call
list, was introduced in Parliament last December but has not
yet received Second Reading. (See Telecom Update #462)
BCI CLASS ACTION SUITS END: Two class action suits against Bell Canada
International, BCE, and some BCI directors have been dismissed without
payment of damages. As part of the settlement agreement, BCI will pay
$3 million towards the plaintiffs' legal costs.
SURVEY SHOWS RURAL/URBAN BROADBAND GAP: A survey by TNS Canadian Facts
reports two-thirds of Canadian Internet users have high-speed access,
but the proportion drops to 22% in communities with less than 10,000
population. The TNS telephone survey concludes that 73% of households
now have Internet access.
TELECOM, IT PROFITS RISE: A Financial Post DataGroup survey of 50
Canadian telecom service providers shows second quarter profits of
$932 million, 22% more than the same period last year. Profits of 45
surveyed IT companies more than quadrupled, to $564 million. (See
Telecom Update #482)
MICROSOFT RELEASES ANTI-ZOTOB TOOL: The war between security experts
and virus writers is escalating fast. On Tuesday August 9, Microsoft
released a security patch for Windows 95, 98, ME, NE, 2000 and XP. By
Sunday, hackers had reverse-engineered the patch and released a worm,
dubbed "Zotob," that attacked customers who hadn't yet installed the
patch. And on Tuesday August 17, Microsoft released a Zotob-removal
tool.
CORRECTION: Contrary to what we reported in Telecom Update #492,
Bell's Business IP Voice service provides only single-line phone
service, so extension-to-extension calling isn't possible.
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The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
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Angus TeleManagement Group (jriddell@angustel.ca)