According to a story in CARTT, the folks at Cable Labs are pushing the speed envelop even faster. This week, it issued its DOCSIS 3.0 specifications, that will, when deployed, enable operators to offer downstream data rates of 160 Mbps and upstream data rates of 120 Mbps.
The bit rate race we are seeing between the telcos and cablecos is just beginning.
Beep, beep.
Technorati Tags:
CARTT, DOCSIS, DOCSIS 3.0
The CRTC‘s rules on local forbearance set a threshold of 25% market share loss for the incumbent in a census or economic region.
While a lot of folks have focussed on Eastlink’s success in residential services versus Aliant, it appears that Western Canada has substantial evidence of business services competition in its 3 biggest markets.
The CRTC monitoring report indicates that, as of year end 2005, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver have lost 24.5%, 23.4% and 22.5% respectively.
The applications for forbearance should be getting prepared already. It makes one wonder why TELUS has not asked for the business services winback restrictions to be lifted in those markets, unless it is failing on the competitor services quality metrics.
We note that Toronto (416) and Barrie are in a similar position for business services.
In case you missed the story in Monday’s Globe and Mail, the placement of a comma was worth more than $2M to Rogers.
Here is the paragraph in question:
Subject to the termination provisions of [the Agreement], [the Agreement] shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
Snap quiz. Calling out to all English teachers, when can the agreement be terminated? It all hinges on when the clause “unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party” and whether it applies to the entire contracted period or just the successive 5 year terms.
In other words, is the contract solid for at least the first 5 years?
Well, thanks to that pesky second comma, the “unless and until” was ruled to apply to the whole sentence, not just the “and thereafter…” portion. As a result, Aliant was able to give one year’s notice to Rogers and raise pole attachment rates to the tune of more than $2M.
And that, boys and girls, is why it is important to pay attention to your English teachers when you go back to school next month!
Technorati Tags:
CRTC, grammar, Globe and Mail, Rogers, Aliant
A couple weeks ago, we warned about Bell‘s application to increase Centrex rates by 10%.
The CRTC gave interim approval to Bell’s tariff filing, but Allstream and the federal government, under the Department of Justice, have filed interventions.
At the heart of both complaints are two fundamental issues: the inflation cannot reasonably be blamed for the price increase; and, customers are not able to escape their contracted terms, despite Bell unilaterally taking this price action, raising the costs of services under the contracts.
Allstream is particularly concerned about the anti-competitive effects, since it acts as a Centrex aggregator.
The Federal Government’s complaint is interesting reading. As a customer, the Government consumes a lot of Centrex: 177,000 directory numbers in 1,500 locations serving 100 departments. The government signed its contract less than a year ago, in November 2005 for a fixed 3-year period, with an additional 3-year option. The tariff increase will cost taxpayers $4M per year or potentially $20M over the full remaining life of the contract.
The government contract was already bitterly fought – with Bell winning on price. The deal was the subject of a trade tribunal review, and judicial review and CRTC complaint. Bell won on price. But now that the contracts are signed, Bell raises the prices.
Nasty business.
How should customers respond? We have a number of strategies to address these issues.
One might start by sending notice of intent not not renew at option time. Send it now. A flood of such letters may help trigger a fresh look at those inflation calculations.
Videotron released its Q2 numbers and it is proving that the company is having success in offering a compelling bundle of services – TV, internet and telephone.
Videotron has always taken a different approach from the other 2 major Canadian cable companies (Shaw and Rogers). Aggressive pricing for local phone service; pushing hard on the internet gas pedal. A wireless component is getting added to the bundle on Thursday.
Among the top items to glean from the release: Videotron grew its Q2 cable base for the first time in 10 years. You need to understand that it seems the entire province of Quebec moves on June 30 because of overly paternalistic micromanagement of the apartment rental markets. But that is another story.
48% of our sales of residential telephone service were to new customers and 70% of them took all three of our products
You have to like what Robert Depatie is doing. A fresh perspective on the telecom sector from a guy who comes from consumer foods (Heinz and Planters).