Industry members say that "notice and notice" letters about supposed copyright infringement is helping to curtail downloading of materials they claim copyright on.

For more info see this cbc story ...

»www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/0···ngs.html

When the May 2005 ruling on VoIP was handed down by the CRTC, the ILECs vowed to appeal it to the federal cabinet as they saw it as setting them at a disadvantage against the other players in the market, including CLECs and cablecos. On Friday, they got their wish as the cabinet asked the regulatory body to review their decision to regulate VoIP as if it were any other voice service the incumbent providers had.

»www.cbc.ca/story/business/nation···oip.html

Aliant Inc. is outsourcing 129 permanent jobs from its call centres to a non-unionized company, and will also drop about 100 temporary employees from the payroll.

On Wednesday, November 9th, the small northern logging town of Chapleau, Ontario launched wireless Internet service to all their 2,800 residents and visitors. Chapleau is three hours southwest of Timmins.

The CRTC has decided that the emerging VoIP market will be regulated similarily to the current phone services.

Canadian telcos, such as Bell Canada, Telus and Aliant will require price approval by the CRTC for VoIP offerings, while Rogers, Shaw, Video tron and startups Vonage and Primus will be allowed to freely compete.

»www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/···ry=crtc

Appeals are likely.

This was already posted as a topic in the Shaw forum, but it's Canadian Broadband news that's worth listing here.

»www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServic···ment.htm

Aliant has announced that it will be deploying a new VDSL service in select high density residential developments in Halifax which will deliver up to 10 megabit download speeds.

There is a new service now being provided in the Kingston-Napanee area by IHorizons.net. 900Mz Wireless Broadband service is now being installed to subscribers in this area, just got mine up and running Dec 1'st. Advertised speed for my service is 2048 down, and its not too far off if you calculate overhead through router and firewall, got a 1918kbps this morning on a speedtest to Eastlink. Practically speaking so far the downloads have been running from most sites for http downloads around 130KB, so I am very happy with it after not having any option but dialup. Bit pricy to start up, around 500 for modem, installation and first 3 months service, but after that it is not too bad, for further info see the WISP site at ihorizons.net.

The CBC reports that Aliant and the union representing its technicians have come to a new contract agreement, ending the four-month old strike.

EVRY, FRANCE - A new telecommunications satellite designed to bring high-speed internet access to remote communities across Canada was successfully launched Saturday evening.

After three failed attempts, the French company that was shooting the 5,950-kilogram satellite into space said it succeeded from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in South America.

Story continues

By Carmen Nobel, eWEEK

Canadian broadband wireless technology provider Wi-LAN is suing industry giant Cisco Systems for patent infringement, Wi-LAN officials announced Thursday. And if the lawsuit goes well, the company may keep on suing.

story continues

The CBC Reports: Phone company officials say thousands of people in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia were without phone, internet and cable overnight after two telecommunications cables were deliberately cut. The sabotage comes during a long and bitter strike by telecommunications workers in the Atlantic provinces.

Twenty years ago, before the birth of the World Wide Web, Grant Berry liked to connect a modem to his computer and go "on-line." There wasn't much consumer content -- no news or gaming sites, not even eBay. In those days, going on-line meant leaving messages on virtual bulletin boards and reading other visitors' remarks.

MONTREAL, May 13 — BabyTel has announced the availability of its local and long-distance Internet telephone service. A Canadian entry into the explosive VoIP market, BabyTel offers full-featured phone service over high-speed Internet connections allowing users to make crystal-clear local and long-distance phone calls. Plans start at $10.95 per month and offer low long-distance rates, savings over conventional telephone services can exceed 60 per cent. An innovative program promises to reward referrals that bring new subscribers.

Story at Globe and Mail

By Bernard Simon, The New York Times

For the first time since regulators opened Canada's telephone services to competition more than a decade ago, the giants of the industry are confronting a serious threat to their long-entrenched dominance.

The threat comes chiefly from rivals offering the increasingly popular technology known as voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Navigata has launched WebCall, a Voice Over Internet Protocol application that allows subscribers to make telephone calls over a high-speed Internet connection using a traditional phone or a computer instead of a regular (analogue) phone line. WebCall will initially be launched in Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, Calgary and Edmonton. Additional locations in Western Canada will be added in the near future including Nanaimo, Kitimat, Terrace, Vernon, Nelson, Whistler, Squamish, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, Canmore, and Banff.

Globe and Mail

By JACK KAPICA

The reality of delivering Internet access is that it is expensive, and few companies offering full service can afford to stay in the game.

The pressure is only going to increase after AOL Canada, America On-line's semi-autonomous Canadian branch, announced this week that it is now selling a broadband package in retail stores — specifically the 128-store Best Buy/Future Shop chain — including high-speed with wireless (Wi-Fi), home networking and AOL Max Internet software.

Full Story at The Globe and Mail

In what is called the largest Wi-Fi deployment by a hotelier, Royal Trust (owners of Travelodge and Super 8) will put Wi-Fi hotspots in 36 of their inns across Canada. They are using DataValet reseller Bell Canada as their provider.

»www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?thea···d=55096

Also an interesting titbit: Holiday Inn plans to offer WiFi in all their hotels free of charge by the end of 2004.

MTS, having recently sold its stake in Bell West to BCE, stated today its intention to buy Allstream for $1.7B.

Story on cbc.ca

Music industry asks for help through federal court order
Shaw Cable calls move an extended fishing expedition

BY TYLER HAMILTON
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Internet service providers have neither an obligation nor, in some cases, the technical means to help the recording industry identify 29 alleged music pirates, a federal judge heard yesterday.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association has asked for a federal court order that would force the country's five largest high-speed service providers to disclose the names, addresses and other personal information relating to unauthorized "uploaders" of copyrighted music.