Tag: Cogéco

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Cogeco acquires ISP Oxio

Oxio is no longer an independent service provider (ISP).

The company will now run under telecom company Cogeco. The company announced the transaction in a press release on February 21st, stating that Oxio will continue to operate independently.

It’s unclear how much Cogeco paid to acquire Oxio.

“With the acquisition of oxio, Cogeco Connexion will now have a second brand to serve the telecommunications needs of Canadians,” Cogeco’s president, Frédéric Perron, said.

Oxio stood out from the rest, promising customer no “teleco bullshit” under its brand. While Cogeco promises that the company will “operate independently and serve its customers using its brand,” only time will tell if that will actually be the case.

Oxio isn’t the only ISP to be acquired by a major player. Telus added Altima and Start.ca to its banner, and Bell added Distributel and EBOX.

Source: Cogeco

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom news roundup: Bell drops 5 cents per post donation for Let’s Talk Day [Jan 7-13]

2023 is just two weeks old, but the telecom news isn’t coming in slowly. Some companies have already released Q1 financial results for the year, while others have changed the way they’ll make financial donations.

As a recap, here’s almost everything that happened in Canada’s telecom sector this week.

Business

Bell is changing its donation method for Bell Let’s Talk Day. The company typically gives five cents for every message shared on the day. But it’s now retiring the practice for a $10 million donation instead. It’s unclear why Bell went this route.

The telecom giant also rolled out 3Gbps speed and 5G+ in Atlantic Canada. The latter service is now available in Moncton, Riverview, Mount Pearl, and Halifax.

ISP TekSavvy says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne must block Rogers’ $26-billion takeover of Shaw. Peter Nowak, the company’s spokesman, said ISPs are being “squeezed out,” and the Minister must take action.

The Competition Bureau is set to face the Federal Court of Appeal on January 24th to argue against the Competition Tribunal’s approval of Rogers’ merger with Shaw. In its original appeal, the bureau argued the tribunal should’ve solely focused on the Rogers-Shaw merger instead of Vidéotron’s commitment to acquire Freedom Mobile. The tribunal said it would’ve reached its conclusion to support the larger merger either way. In its updated appeal, the bureau said the tribunal failed to explain why that would’ve been the case.

SaskTel has launched Cloud PVR service on maxTV Stream, allowing users to record up to 300 hours of content.

The University of Waterloo is leading a group of companies and academics to create technologies that will protect Canada’s national security through 5G. École de technologie supérieure in Montréal, University of Regina, BlackBerry, NoviFlow, Rockport Networks and Rogers are part of the consortium.

Shaw reported adding 12,000 new wireless prepaid customers in the first quarter of 2023. However, the company’s overall revenue decreased.

Cogeco also released its Q1 financial results for the year, bringing in $762 million in revenue. Despite the revenue increase, the company projects growth will slow this year.

The House of Common’s industry and technology committee will hold a second hearing on Rogers’ merger with Shaw, according to The Globe and Mail. 

Deals

Public Mobile is offering new customers 5GB of bonus data per month for eight months. Read the details here.

Koodo and Virgin have increased the cost of their unlimited talk and text plans to $33/ month. This is a significant price increase, considering the plans used to close $27 back in August 2022.

Fido has discounted some of its plans by $10/month for Lunar New Year. More specifics are available here.

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Mobile Syrup

Cogeco reports revenue increase in Q1 2023 financial report

Cogeco increased its revenue by six percent in the first quarter of 2023, Q1 financial results show.

The company, which operates both in Canada and the United States, made $762 million this quarter. Revenue on the Canadian telecom side increased by 4.8 percent, mainly due to its high-speed internet service.

“Cogeco Connexion, our Canadian telecommunications business unit, performed as expected,” Philippe Jetté, Cogeco Communication’s president and CEO, said.

“We continued to connect new homes to our network as part of the fibre-to-the-home network expansions in Québec, and we are starting to see the positive effects.”

However, the company says it expects revenue growth to reduce this year. A smaller customer base in the U.S., increasing competition and, to a lesser extent, economic conditions are expected to play a role.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: Cogeco Communications Inc.

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom companies warn users of service outages from powerful snowstorm

Telecom companies across Ontario and Quebec are reminding customers of possible power outages resulting from a snowstorm.

Vidéotron tweeted power outages might impact its customers in Quebec, and it has teams on standby.

Cogeco also confirmed its services are impacted in several regions. “If you are affected by a power outage, the batteries in your modems will allow the telephone service to operate for a few hours, but we recommend that you bring another telephone in case of emergency,” the company tweeted.

Bell tweeted that it will be providing updates on outages as they come.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

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Mobile Syrup

Eligible low-income families and seniors can soon access internet for $20/month

Internet connection with IP routing background

The Government of Canada is partnering with 14 internet service providers (ISPs) to bring $20 a month internet to low-income families and seniors.

The partnership is through the government’s Connecting Families initiative. According to the government’s website, ISPs participate in the program “voluntarily and without and without government subsidy.”

Access Communications, Bell, CCAP, Cogeco, Hay Communications, Mornington, Novus, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Tbaytel, Telus, Vidéotron, and Westman Communications are participating in the program.

“Many low-income Canadians are still facing barriers that prevent their full participation in the economy,” François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said.

“By working closely with internet service providers across the country, we are increasing accessibility and providing all Canadians with affordable and reliable internet.”

This announcement is the second phase of the Connecting Families initiative.

Families receiving the Canada Child Benefit and Guaranteed Income Supplement are eligible for the program. The program includes 50Mbps download speeds and 200GB of data usage each month. If 50Mbps is not available, it will consist of the fastest download speed in the region.

The first version of the plan, Connecting Families 1.0, which offered a $10 internet plan, is still available.

Eligible families should keep an eye on their mailboxes. They’ll receive a letter from the government with an access code needed to sign up for the program.

The offering is part of the government’s plan to ensure 98 percent of Canadians have high-speed internet access by 2026. The government has also made significant investments in the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to achieve this goal. A map of all UBF funded projects can be viewed here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada