Manitoba Telecom Services
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| MTS Allstream Inc. / Manitoba Telecom Services | |
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| Type | Public TSX: MBT |
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| Founded | 1908 |
| Headquarters | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Key people | Thomas E. Stefanson (Chairman), Pierre Blouin (CEO) |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Revenue |  $2.017 billion CAD (2005)[1] |
| Net income |  $213.7 million CAD (2005)[1] |
| Employees | 6,491 (2005)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | MTS Allstream |
| Website | www.mtsallstream.com |
Manitoba Telecom Services (TSX: MBT), or MTS , formerly Manitoba Telephone System, is the primary telecommunications carrier in the Canadian province of Manitoba and the third largest telecommunications provider in Canada with 7000 employees. It provides local and long-distance phone services, television service, and wireless services including digital PCS, cellular, and paging. Since merging with Allstream in 2004, the company is known as "MTS Allstream Inc."
MTS is the descendant company of Manitoba Government Telephones which went into operation in January 1908. The Crown corporation eventually absorbed all private telephone operations in the province. In 1996, the Provincial government of Premier Gary Filmon decided to sell the Manitoba Telephone System to private shareholders. The decision to privatize was seen as controversial, as it marked a significant departure from the Progressive Conservatives' earlier position that MTS should remain provincially-owned.
The company's head office is located in MTS Place on Main Street, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early 1900s
In 1908, the Province of Manitoba assumed responsibility for telephone service in the province, purchasing the Bell system from Bell Telephone Company of Canada for $3.3 million.[2]
Radiotelephone service was added to the communities of Gimli, Norway House, and The Pas in 1948.[3]
[edit] 1950s
A new wing was built at the Fort Rouge Exchange in 1950, and automatic switching equipment was installed in the same year. This was the first of its kind in North America.[3]
MTS converted its telephone exchanges to the 2L-5N numbering plan between 1955 and 1958.[3]
On Sunday, September 30, 1956, MTS connected to the TCTS microwave network, from the new 85 foot high microwave tower built at the Fort Rouge Exchange on Corydon Ave.[4], which meant that Winnipeggers were now able to receive non-live CBC programming on CBWT the same day it was broadcast in Toronto, and Montreal. Also voice long distance calls were made more efficient.[5] There were 120 voice circuits east of Winnipeg and 96 between Winnipeg and Regina. The television signal from CBC was sent to CBC Winnipeg via underground & submarine cable under the Assiniboine River.[3]
At midnight on June 21, 1959, Winnipeg was the first urban area in North America to implement the 9-9-9 Emergency Number.[6]
Also in the late 1950s, MTS located one of its administrative offices on Empress St. near the newly opened Polo Park Shopping Centre complex. In 2001 these employees were moved to 333 Main St., commonly known as MTS Place, where 1200 employees now work. This formed part of the Province's Downtown First strategy.
[edit] 1970s
In the late 1970s, similar to policy changes implemented by AT&T in the U.S., MTS allowed its customers to purchase their own telephone equipment and with this, provided free installation of RJ11 telephone jacks.
In the Spring of 1979, MTS announced that it would be a pioneer in two-way electronic information services. The trial was called Project IDA and ran from 1980 to 1981.
[edit] 1980s
MTS was a pioneer in offering videotex at the commercial level. In 1981, it partnered with Infomart (then owned by the Torstar and Southam newspaper chains) to create the Grassroots service, providing information relevant to farmers on the Canadian prairies. Customers paid $47.50 per month to subscribe to Grassroots, plus connection fees to DATAPAC. Terminal equipment was manufactured by Norpak.
They opened MTS Phone Centre stores in shopping malls to sell residential and business phones and services, and in 1984 opened two MTS Business Centre locations (Commodity Exchange Tower lobby and Empress St. office) to provide sales of business-level equipment.
In the mid-1980s, MTS started a subsidiary known as MTX, which had invested in telecommunications in Saudi Arabia. However MTX was forced to shut down after controversy about the company back in Manitoba after MTX lost $27 million on the venture.
[edit] 1990s
In 1996 in a controversial decision, the Provincial government decided to sell the Manitoba Telephone System to private shareholders. The vote to privatize MTS was held in early December 1996.
In January 1999 MTS partnered with Bell Canada to form Intrigna, which was a company created to expand telecommunications options for the business market in Alberta and British Columbia. As part of the deal, Bell Canada gained 20% ownership of MTS. They set up a jointly operated office in Calgary. By the summer of 1999, fibre optic cable had been laid in Edmonton and Calgary, and later extended to Vancouver. Intrigna was renamed Bell West.[7]
In August 1999 MTS completed work on a new trunked (digital) radio system known as FleetNet 800, technology licensed from neighbouring SaskTel.[7]
In the Fall of 1999 MTS began to offer DSL high-speed Internet service in Winnipeg and Brandon, which later expanded to other areas of the province.[7]
[edit] 2000s
The CRTC met with the various telecommunications providers in Canada and required of them to implement a Service Improvement Plan (SIP). This meant that MTS had to improve service to northern remote areas that even by the 21st century had poor quality phone service. Customers in northern Manitoba complained that the microwave system could not handle data communications (modem, fax) well. This lead MTS to initiate upgrades to the Raddison-Churchill corridor with fibre optics and the Lynn Lake-Thompson corridor with a digital microwave system to replace the outdated equipment.[8]
In 2004, MTS acquired Allstream (formerly AT&T Canada) for $1.7 billion and merged both companies. On November 29, 2005, MTS Allstream said it would be cutting up to 800 jobs in early 2006 - of which 80% would be from Allstream's employer base.[9]
Cellular telephone service is currently available in 97% of the province, but some areas, like Piney, Manitoba aren't scheduled to become cellular capable until around 2009.[10]
On December 10, 2003 MTS bought the naming rights for the True North Centre, making it the company's single largest advertising expenditure. The entertainment, sports and performing-arts facility is now known as the MTS Centre. The company also has a long-running TV ad campaign featuring various talking bison.
On December 7, 2005, former BCE executive Pierre Blouin was named Chief Executive Officer of Manitoba Telecom Services and of MTS Allstream, replacing longtime CEO Bill Fraser.
On August 28, 2006, a private construction crew in the beach country area of East St. Paul dug in the wrong spot with a backhoe, cutting a cable containing copper and fibre-optic wires. Without a backup, the outage lasted 7 hours interrupting long-distance, cellphone, pager, and DSL Internet service for northeastern Manitoba.[11]
[edit] Facilities
The administration offices are located at 333 Main St., in the former Bestlands Building. The complex is now known as MTS Place.
The MTS Long Distance Gateway is located in the J. F. Mills Building on Corydon Avenue near Confustion Corner. One of its functions is to transmit local television signals from Winnipeg to retransmitters throughout the province.
[edit] Project Cleanfeed Canada
Along with Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, TELUS, and Videotron, MTS is one of many Canadian ISPs involved in Project Cleanfeed Canada, a censorship project that aims to censor foreign web sites that contain images of children being sexually abused. [12] Critics claim that internet censorship is violating the principles of democracy and free speech. This blacklist was created and is administered by Cybertip.ca, Canada's child sexual exploitation tipline.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b c MTS Annual Report 2005. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.
- ^ Manitoba Historical Society - Early history of the telephone system of Manitoba. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ a b c d "MTS Marks 50 Years Of Progress In 1958", Winnipeg Free Press, May 5, 1958, p. 40.
- ^ Lepkin, Marion. "Complex Equipment Ready For Phone-TV Revolution", Winnipeg Free Press, September 27, 1956, p. 3.
- ^ CBC Archive - 1956 - Micro-wave of the future. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ CBC Archive - 1959 - Winnipeggers call 9-9-9 for help. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ a b c Manitoba Telecom Services - 2000 Annual Report. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ CRTC Decision 2002-63 - Includes upgrades to MTS microwave network. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ Cox, Brian (November 29, 2005). Winnipeg's MTS to let go up to 800 jobs. NewWinnipeg.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ "Southeastern Rural Municipality needs cellphone service", CBC News, 2006-08-30. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ Kitching, Chris. "Push for Allstream backup Urged after 7-hour outage", Winnipeg Sun, 2006-08-30. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ "ISPs and Tipline Step Up Battle Against Internet Child Exploitation".
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