Ontera

Ontera is a telecommunications company in Ontario, Canada and a subsidiary of Bell Aliant. It provides local telephone service in the Northern Ontario towns of Bear Island, Iroquois Falls, Marten River, Moosonee, Moose Factory and Temagami, and also offers long-distance services in most of area code 705.

Ontera
Formerly
  • O.N.Tel
  • O.N.Telcom
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
Foundedc. 1902 (1902)
Headquarters
North Bay, Ontario
ServicesDSL, wireless broadband, dial-up, landline, long-distance calling
OwnerBCE Inc.
ParentBell Aliant
Websiteontera.ca

History

Ontera was founded as the Ontario Northland Telecommunications division of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, in 1902. It was the exclusive provider of long-distance calling services in many rural Northeastern Ontario markets until the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved long-distance competition in 2000. The name was changed to O.N.Tel Inc. in the 1990s, then changed its trading name to O.N.Telcom in 2000, and then renamed to Ontera in 2004.[1]

Divestment

In April 2014, the Ontario government announced it would sell Ontera to Bell Aliant.[2][3] According to the Public Accounts of Ontario prepared by the provincial treasury board, the CA$6.3 million sale was made at a loss of $61 million.[4]

The acquisition was completed in October 2014.[5] Bell Canada, which had been the largest shareholder in Bell Aliant and most of its predecessors throughout their respective histories, took full ownership of Bell Aliant in late 2014.

Following its divestment, Ontera did not maintain investments in network infrastructure and stopped accepting new customers.[6] The municipal council of Temagami approved a resolution in September 2020 to lobby the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to require Ontera upgrade its infrastructure and allow third-party resellers.[7]

Network Infrastructure

Ontera provides customer-premises LAN, VoIP and Internet security systems, DSL, fibre optic and wireless data services. The company owns and operates an extensive fibre optic telecommunications network throughout most of Northeastern Ontario.

In September 2008, Ontera announced plans to install a ring network, to strengthen network reliability, which was completed by spring 2009.[8]

References
  1. "History". About Us. Ontera. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  2. "Ontera sale to Bell Aliant leaves questions for customers, employees | CBC News".
  3. "Ontario Newsroom".
  4. Brennan, Richard J. (September 30, 2015). "Provincially owned telecom firm sold at loss of almost $61 million". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  5. Hamilton-McCharles, Jennifer (October 1, 2014). "Bell Aliant acquires Ontera". North Bay Nugget. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  6. MacDonald, Darren (3 June 2020). "Renewed push to bring high-speed internet to rural areas, including the north". CTV News Northern Ontario. Retrieved 3 November 2020. Years ago, Ontera, a provincially owned corporation, provided decent access to rural areas for $25 a month. But it was sold to the private sector, which didn't invest in the infrastructure and wouldn't take on new customers.
  7. Mountain, Jamie (September 10, 2020). "Temagami looking for better internet options". BayToday. Thunder Bay, ON. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. "Ontera customers to Benefit from Investment in State-of-the-Art-Network". Ontera press release. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
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