Imran Mohiuddin

Alberta budget and broadband strategy hold promise, but concerns remain

By Imran Mohiuddin / March 21, 2022 March 21, 2022

Last month, Alberta’s Finance Minister Travis Toews tabled the provincial government’s Budget 2022. It builds on a number of commitments outlined in the government’s Alberta Recovery Plan and Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs strategy by introducing a number of investments relevant to advanced education, innovation, and skilled labour development. The provincial government is earmarking …

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Alberta Broadband Strategy aims to close the digital divide by 2026

By Imran Mohiuddin / March 2, 2022 March 2, 2022

Today, Premier Jason Kenney and Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish released the long-awaited Alberta Broadband Strategy 2022: connecting Albertans, growing the economy. Cybera was pleased to see many of the initiatives we have previously advocated for in the new strategy, which we believe are necessary to create vital connectivity links in the province. The strategy …

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Federal committee suggests new ways to improve telecoms competition (and offers slight rebuke of CRTC)

By Imran Mohiuddin / June 25, 2021 June 25, 2021

On June 22, 2021, the federal Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology released its study Affordability and Accessibility of Telecommunications Services in Canada: Encouraging Competition to (Finally) Bridge the Digital Divide. The study offered recommendations for improving competition in Canada’s telecommunications industry, and also provided a rebuke for recent CRTC decisions that have caused …

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How CRTC flip-flop on wholesale internet will hurt consumers

By Imran Mohiuddin / June 1, 2021 June 2, 2021

Last week, in a move that has already negatively impacted consumer internet costs in Canada, the CRTC reversed it’s 2019 decision to lower the rates charged by large ISPs to wholesale service providers for access to their networks. Wholesale internet providers, such as TekSavvy and Distributel, will now have to pay the higher, pre-2019 rates …

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Cybera’s take on Canada signing the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement

By Imran Mohiuddin / May 5, 2021 May 5, 2021

On May 3, 2021, Cybera submitted its response to Global Affairs Canada’s consultation on Canada’s possible accession to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement is a new international trade policy instrument that aims to address the transborder governance of a number of emerging digital economy issues. Initiated by Chile, New …

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Federal Budget 2021 invests in research, connectivity and data governance

By Imran Mohiuddin / April 26, 2021 June 15, 2021

On April 19, the federal government tabled its 2021 budget: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth and Resilience. The first federal budget tabled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it contained a number of economic measures to address Canada’s path to recovery over the next year and onwards, including expansions to the federal wage …

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Closing the gap: a look back at the Alberta Rural Connectivity Forum

By Imran Mohiuddin / April 13, 2021 April 13, 2021

On March 23-24, Cybera hosted the Alberta Rural Connectivity Forum, a two-day virtual event that brought together community leaders and policymakers to discuss the state of connectivity in Alberta. Divided into two days— Community Broadband Updates on day 1 and Regulatory & Technical Solutions on day 2 — the event outlined the infrastructure and funding …

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Alberta Rural Connectivity Coalition Will Address The Province’s Internet Woes

By Imran Mohiuddin / April 8, 2021 June 9, 2021

In an effort to address the internet access and pricing issues that plague thousands of Albertans, a group of community associations, non-profit technology advocates, academics and individuals have teamed up to form the Alberta Rural Connectivity Coalition. Across Canada, only 46% of rural and remote communities have access to broadband speeds of at least 50 …

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Cybera’s response to the federal committee’s study on broadband connectivity

By Imran Mohiuddin / February 2, 2021 April 1, 2021

Last week, Cybera submitted a brief to the federal government’s Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU). The INDU committee is currently studying the accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services in Canada. The INDU committee previously studied broadband affordability and access in 2017. That investigation produced the Broadband Connectivity in Rural Canada: Overcoming the …

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Canada’s new privacy bill – what it means for Canadians

By Imran Mohiuddin / November 19, 2020 November 19, 2020

This past Tuesday, November 17, the federal government announced it was tabling Bill C-11, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA). This bill represents a significant shift in privacy legislation in Canada. It follows a period of public consultations initiated by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), including last year’s calls for comments on the modernization …

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Cybera’s response to CRTC investigation on disaggregated wholesale access

By Imran Mohiuddin / October 6, 2020 October 6, 2020

On June 11, 2020, the CRTC issued a Call for comments – Appropriate network configuration for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access services. Their goal was to address a number of outstanding issues related to the Commission’s earlier decision (2015-326) to move Canada’s wholesale high speed access regime from a disaggregated to an aggregated model. Under the previous, …

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How federal decisions on wholesale rates impacts internet prices for all Canadians

By Imran Mohiuddin / September 9, 2020 October 6, 2020

On August 15, 2020, the federal government issued a controversial statement regarding an ongoing disagreement between incumbent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and wholesale internet providers over the wholesale rates set by the CRTC. In its statement, the government seemingly supported an argument advanced by Canada’s big three telecoms providers. They claimed that current regulations requiring …

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Updating our review of Alberta’s connectivity crisis

By Imran Mohiuddin / June 9, 2020 October 14, 2020

In April, Cybera’s policy team created a white paper to highlight and address the internet crisis in Alberta. As COVID-19 continues to impact schools and businesses in the province, this problem of access and connectivity has not gone away. In the original white paper, we provided suggestions for how the provincial government and large ISPs can work …

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Cybera’s response to CRTC consultation on barriers to deploying broadband

By Imran Mohiuddin / May 11, 2020 October 6, 2020

Last week, Cybera submitted a response to the CRTC’s Notice of Consultation 2019-406: Call for comments regarding potential barriers to the deployment of broadband-capable networks in underserved areas in Canada. In 2018, the CRTC finalized the Broadband Fund, a $750 Million investment over five years to fund broadband-capable networks across Canada. Its intention is to: “Fund projects …

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New white paper addresses the connectivity crisis in Alberta

By Imran Mohiuddin / April 16, 2020 October 14, 2020

The current COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the connectivity issues faced by rural Albertans. There is an opportunity for the provincial government, and large internet service providers (ISPs), to work together to fix this problem, now. Our policy team has developed a white paper highlighting the current need in the province, and proposing actionable next steps …

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An overview of the CRTC’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review

By Imran Mohiuddin / January 31, 2020 June 3, 2021

On January 30, the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel released its final report on Canada’s Communications Future: Time to Act. The panel was appointed in June 2018 to review the country’s communication legislative framework, including the Telecommunications Act, Radiocommunication Act, and the Broadcasting Act. The panel’s 97 recommendations cover a wide range of subjects, …

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