(SaskTel.com)

CRTC asks big telcos to share network with smaller rural players

Big firms also told to negotiate wholesale access rates

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada’s top wireless firms will now be required to accept requests for access to their networks from smaller companies, particularly those serving rural areas, and also to negotiate on wholesale prices, the country’s telecom regulator said Wednesday. The ruling comes as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) looks to lower the cost […] Read more

(Silo.ca)

Xplornet buys Ontario’s Silo Wireless

Deal includes rural wireless, fibre services

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s biggest rural broadband company has expanded its space in the southwestern Ontario market by buying internet and fibre-to-home provider Silo Wireless. New Brunswick-based Xplornet Communications, whose client list already includes over a million rural customers in all provinces, announced it has closed its deal to buy Silo for an undisclosed sum. The deal gives […] Read more


(Xplornet screengrab via YouTube)

Xplornet to buy NetSet

Reading Time: 1 minute A rural broadband provider serving over 500 Manitoba municipalities and communities is set to be absorbed into one of Canada’s biggest rural operators. Xplornet Communications announced Monday it has signed a deal to buy the internet access business of Brandon-based NetSet Communications. Financial terms of the deal for the privately-held Manitoba company weren’t disclosed, except […] Read more

A YourLink tower outside Weyburn, Sask. (YourLink.ca)

Wireless providers ordered to set up alert system

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s wireless providers have until April 2018 to set up wireless public alerting systems on LTE networks. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on Thursday issued a directive to that effect to all wireless service providers. The alert system would allow emergency management officials to warn Canadians via mobile devices of “dangers to life […] Read more


A YourLink tower outside Weyburn, Sask. (YourLink.ca)

Xplornet buying YourLink

Reading Time: 2 minutes One of Canada’s biggest providers of rural broadband is set to expand its space in the Saskatchewan market by buying rural high-speed wireless provider YourLink. New Brunswick-based Xplornet Communications on Monday announced an all-cash $28.75 million deal with Victoria-based Vecima Networks for the “remaining assets” of Vecima’s YourLink business. YourLink, based in Saskatoon, is a […] Read more