Canadian Financial Post
Wednesday, June 24, 1998
NB Tel gets OK to offer cable TV
By BRENDA DALGLISH
Media Reporter The Financial Post
ÿThe Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission gave the
nod yesterday to New Brunswick Telephone Co. to begin cable-TV service
in Saint John and Moncton.
ÿNB Tel is the first telephone company to be licensed to compete with
cable.
ÿNB Tel had applied for a licence for all the province and is
disappointed the commission approved only the two cities, although it
had acknowledged potential problems delivering service to the entire
province, said Linda Forestell, general manager of corporate
communications.
ÿBut NB Tel may not launch its service by the licence's effective Sept.
1 start date because it is reconsidering the technology it will use,
Forestell said.
ÿInstead of using the hybrid fibre co-axial (HFC) network it has built,
and which it talked about in its application, it may use a new system.
Two weeks ago NB Tel launched a joint venture with Newbridge Networks
Corp. to develop a new technology that would supercharge the phone
company's existing copper network, she said.
ÿIf that technology works, it would be more cost effect than using HFC.
ÿThe terms of the licence seem to suggest NB Tel must use HFC
technology. "We haven't had an opportunity to speak with our friends at
the commission yet, so we have to look into what this means," Forestell
said.
ÿThe CRTC said it chose Sept. 1 because it expects to have a solution by
then to the problem of portable phone numbers, which has slowed the
entry of cable companies into the local telephone business.
ÿ"The commission is satisfied that a solution to number portability will
be available by August or September of this year, which coincides with
the date authorized in this decision for NB Tel," it said in announcing
its decision.
ÿIn setting that time frame, the CRTC is following its principle that
neither cable nor telephone companies should be given a head start to
compete in each other's business.
ÿ |
