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Eastlink (company)

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Bragg Communications Inc.
Eastlink
Company typePrivate
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1969;55 years ago(1969)(as Bragg Communications Inc.)
1998;26 years ago(1998)(as EastLink)
HeadquartersHalifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
Key people
John Bragg,Lee Bragg
ProductsDigital Television,Cable High Speed Internet,Telephone,Cellular,Home Security and Automation
Revenue$310.6 million (cable); $273 million (Internet); $6.3 million (advertising) (all 2010)[1]
$53.8 million
Number of employees
1,500
ASN
Websitewww.eastlink.ca

Bragg Communications Inc.,doing business asEastlink,is a Canadiancable televisionandtelecommunicationscompany.[2]The privately held company was founded inNova Scotiain 1969 by the Bragg family, and has grown since through the amalgamation of several telecommunications companies.[3]

History[edit]

The company began inAmherst, Nova Scotia,in 1969,[3]where it was later issued one of the first cable licences granted by theCRTC.It acquiredHalifax Cablevision Ltd.,at the time the largest system in Eastern Canada, in 1985.[3]Through a series of acquisitions, which included the purchase ofAmtelecom,Persona,Bluewater,DeltaandCoast Cable,Eastlink became the fifth-largest cable television provider in Canada by 2010, with approximately 1,500 employees working in offices across the country. As of 2010, it was the largest privately owned cable company in Canada, with 457,075 subscribers[4]in nine provinces (excludingSaskatchewan). It remains privately held by theBraggfamily ofOxford, Nova Scotia.[5]

In 2008, Eastlink purchased the wireline business of ISN,Prince Edward Island's only local internet service provider.[6]As of 2020, ISN re-entered the wireline business with a home and business fibre service.

In 2023, Eastlink purchasedKapuskasing, OntarioISP NeoTech.[7]

Service offerings[edit]

Cable Internet and TV[edit]

Eastlink delivers digital video/television and cable-network-based Internet services with speeds up to 940 megabits per second, one of the faster networks of this kind in North America. It was one of the first companies in North America tobundledigital cableandbroadband Internetservices withhome phoneservice.

Eastlink's 350 and 940 megabit service have unlimited usage, both while standalone and while included in a bundle.[8]

Eastlink also producescommunity channelsbranded asEastlink Community TVto serve the company's cable customers.

Eastlink offersvideo on demand,digital video recordersand high definition television (HDTV) services in many communities across Canada.[9]

Wireless[edit]

Main article:Eastlink Wireless

Eastlink spent $25 million during the 2008Advanced Wireless Servicesauction for 19 licenses inOntarioandAtlantic Canadaas well asGrande Prairie,Alberta.The company announced in 2011 that it would introduce wireless services, beginning withNova ScotiaandPrince Edward Island.In February 2013, Eastlink launched its wireless service with evolved high speed packet access (HSPA+) and long-term evolution (LTE) services available at the launch date.

As Eastlink deployed many wireless repeater towers for itsMotorola Canopyservice launched as part of theBroadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative,upgrading these to serve as a cellular and Wi-Fimesh networkwith the intent of attracting third parties with no tower access, such as Wind, to partner with Eastlink.

In May 2016, Eastlink announced that it would launch wireless service in the cities ofTimminsandSudburyin northern Ontario. Eastlink activated itsLTEnetwork, includingVoice over LTE,in Timmins on June 1, 2016[10]with the LTE network in Sudbury activated on June 9, 2016.[11]

In March 2022, Eastlink launched a5Gnetwork in partnership withEricsson.[12]Right now the new 5G network is live in parts of theHalifax Regional MunicipalityandSaint John, New Brunswick.[13]

CLEC services[edit]

Eastlink was the first[14]majorCanadiancable company to offer competitive localtelephoneservice in its territory in 1999 over afibre opticnetwork.[15]In 2005, thearea code 902telephone market was the most competitive telephone exchange inNorth America[according to whom?]and this was credited to Eastlink's presence in the market. Eastlink was also the first provider to deliver local telephone competition to its service area inNew Brunswickin 2005.[16]

Fixed wireless Internet in rural Nova Scotia[edit]

In 2010, Eastlink launched another service in cooperation with other providers and the government ofNova Scotia'sBroadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative:aMotorola Canopy-based rural Internet service capable of 0.5 megabit uploads, 1.5 megabit downloads, which was intended to reach "100% of civic addresses" in Nova Scotia. This level of coverage is unique in North America and is a particular challenge in a province prone to extreme weather, fog, and winds. Eastlink claimed at public forums in early 2010 that the service would operate at under 100ms latency and accordingly be useful forVoIPfrom arbitrary third parties such asSkype,but this has not been verified. However, latency to the towers themselves was reliably under 2ms at that time.

Alternatives[edit]

Critics of the Canopy service, notably Bell, argued that it is expensive (due to shorter range repeater towers). The strategy was poorly coordinated with cable networks (there being for instance no subsidy to extend the cable network where it would be easy to do so or even where it would facilitate the wireless services). Most open-systems-minded users considered Canopy an impractical direction compared to expansion ofWi-Fi hotspotservices. Its primary competitor,Aliant,by contrast has invested in Wi-Fi,GSMandDSLservices, but they remained as of 2011 expensive or unavailable in rural Nova Scotia.

Original Eastlink logo 1998-2012

Some jurisdictions that report unsatisfactory results with all of these technologies, including Canopy, such asDoor County, Wisconsin'sWashington Island,have reported positive results withpowerline networking.However, as power-lines do not reach "100% of civic addresses" they do not address quite the same issues. The deployment of powerline-based meters byEmerasubsidiaryBangor Hydro,which also ownsNova Scotia Power Inc.on the board of which Eastlink CEOLee Braggserves, suggests that this technology may ultimately become part of the Eastlink mix in some rural areas.[citation needed]

As of early 2011,Rogers,Aliant,andTelus' mobile Internet offerings are extraordinarily expensive for heavy users andtetheringof personal computers is not necessarily included under these plans; the price per gigabyte of the Eastlink service is clearly superior to any of these offerings. However, the maximum speed is much less (1.5Mbit/s download versus up to 21Mbit/s) and more so when these cellular providers upgrade to dual-carrier (42Mbit/s)HSPA+.[17]For those more concerned with speed and less with price, cellular options will be a superior rural networking choice; for those concerned with price, Eastlink's fixed wireless service, the expansion of Wi-Fi hotspots, and the use of802.11uand802.21will continue to form a more reliable mesh especially in attracting tourists or in densely populated areas.[citation needed]

Wired Network Extensions[edit]

In terms of speed, where it could reach groups of customers inaccessible by Canopy, Eastlink's wired network would be substantially faster, operating at up to 100Mbit/s download, compared to 1.5Mbit/s download. Fixed-wireless internet is, however, many times faster than dial-up (1.5Mbit/s) and does (unlike satellite) satisfy most expectations of "broadband Internet access".Broadband is economically or subjectively defined and is perceived very differently by persons with different latency expectations and service usage patterns, therefore perceptions of its quality are also subjective; Persons accustomed to dialup service may be thrilled with Canopy performance, whereas those used to wired cable find it slow or flaky.

Canopy service deployment encountered numerous challenges in practice, including installation of unforeseen wireless relay towers installed on anad hocbasis that increase latency, reduce service reliability and load other towers – the inherent problems of amesh network.

Service and installation concerns[edit]

Eastlink was not, as of November 2011, effectively held to its contractual obligation to provide "100% of civic addresses" with service nor its latency promises, even where most such customers could be easily accommodated by extending its wired network to these existing wireless relay towers. In particular, users on islands with water access were denied service as of summer 2011.

Installers as of November 2011 had no way to test latency before asking for customer sign-off and final installation, meaning that any user whose latency needs could not be met would not know that until after they had agreed the service was adequate, based only on raw signal strength.

As of late 2011, the project had still not yet reached its promise of "100% of civic addresses." Eastlink has not commented on the consistency of speeds or latency on this network nor released any publicquality of service(QoS) statistics or actual usage information about the services its users actually use. It was widely anticipated that Eastlink would offer access to its new cell network in 2012 on favourable terms to cut-off rural users.

Coverage[edit]

Provinces which currently have some Eastlink service are: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick (limited to southern regions), Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia. It also previously served the town ofPoint Roberts, Washington,in theUnited States,a geographic exclave of Washington which is accessible by land only from British Columbia; EastLink announced it would discontinue service to Point Roberts in 2019, citing the cost of maintaining the aging cable infrastructure in the town.[18]

Service in Saskatchewan was available in the past but is currently not available to new customers.Access Communicationsin Saskatchewan acquired the rights to the cable TV services in the areas formerly covered by Eastlink.

In previous years, Eastlink operated asCoast Cableon theSunshine Coastand asDelta CableinDelta, British Columbia.These brands were phased out to unify these divisions under Eastlink.

As of February 2011, Eastlink has acquired service territory on the island ofBermuda.

Cellular service is currently available to residents all of Nova Scotia; all of Prince Edward Island; south New Brunswick; Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Sussex, Sackville; St. John's, NL; Ontario; Greater Sudbury, ON; and Timmins, ON.

Carriage disputes[edit]

On May 25, 2023, Eastlink announced that it would not renew its carriage agreement withCorus Entertainment,resulting in all of its specialty channels being removed from its services on June 27, 2023.[19]Almost a year later on June 6, 2024, Corus announced an agreement to reinstate its channels on Eastlink, albeit in paid theme packs rather than as part of the main television bundle.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^"'We do not believe that as a privately held company we are required to share this information,' Bragg spokeswoman Jill Laing said in an interview Friday. She said the posting of some of the company’s financial details on the website is the first time the public has seen them." Source: Bill Power,"Bragg Communications earned $590m in year",Chronicle Herald(Halifax), January 8, 2011.
  2. ^"CRTC Ownership Chart: Bragg (Eastlink)"(PDF).2022-06-17.Retrieved2023-03-04.
  3. ^abcMarlow, Iain (28 May 2010)."EastLink: The biggest cable company you've probably never heard of".The Globe and Mail.Retrieved29 October2016.
  4. ^As of the end of the 2010 financial year. This was down from 462,000 the previous year.Source:Bill Power,"Bragg Communications earned $590m in year",Chronicle Herald(Halifax), January 8, 2011.
  5. ^Dobby, Christine (7 December 2015)."Eastlink looks to capture larger share of wireless market in Atlantic Canada".The Globe and Mail.Retrieved29 October2016.
  6. ^"Eastlink buys local internet provider".CBC News.Retrieved29 October2016.
  7. ^"Eastlink Purchases NeoTech in Northern Ontario".Eastlink.2023-10-05.
  8. ^"Unlimited Home Internet & WiFi Plans | High Speed Internet Provider | Eastlink".
  9. ^"Eastlink".Archived fromthe originalon 2010-01-09.Retrieved2010-01-01.
  10. ^Hardy, Ian (19 May 2016)."Eastlink to launch wireless service in northern Ontario on June 1".Mobile Syrup.Retrieved10 June2016.
  11. ^Hardy, Ian (9 June 2016)."Eastlink goes live with wireless service in Sudbury, Ontario".Mobile Syrup.Retrieved10 June2016.
  12. ^https://www.eastlink.ca/about/media-centre?newsid=1191
  13. ^https://www.eastlink.ca/mobile/5g-network
  14. ^Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Jan/Feb 2005
  15. ^"Eastlink Press Release".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-27.Retrieved2007-09-04.
  16. ^"Eastlink Press Release".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-27.Retrieved2007-09-04.
  17. ^IT World Canada
  18. ^Gyarmati, Sandor (July 10, 2019)."EastLink is pulling the plug in Point Roberts".Delta Optimist.RetrievedMarch 22,2022.
  19. ^Thiessen, Connie (2023-05-26)."Carriage dispute to see Eastlink drop 34 Corus Entertainment channels".Broadcast Dialogue.Retrieved2023-06-25.
  20. ^Hathout, Ahmad (2024-06-06)."Corus and Eastlink resolve carriage dispute".Cartt.ca.Retrieved2024-06-09.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eastlink_(company)&oldid=1228028265"