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The Stentor Alliance was a formal alliance of Canada's major telecommunications companies, specifically its incumbent local exchange carriers. It derives its name from the Greek mythological figure Stentor.
The system originally formed in 1931 as the Telephone Association of Canada, soon becoming the Trans-Canada Telephone System and operating under this name for most of its history. It was briefly known as Telecom Canada before becoming Stentor in 1992. The group began dissolving in 1999, with the last unit closing in 2004.
The alliance comprised the following companies at the time of inception:
The Trans-Canada and Telecom Canada alliances were ostensibly formed to provide for the standardization of local and long-distance telephone services across Canada as well as provide for consistency in lobbying efforts with provincial and federal governments. By the time Stentor replaced Telecom Canada, internet service was part of the alliance's objectives.
In practice, Stentor was also an advertising unit, coordinating national advertising and sponsorships (such as sponsorship of the Olympic Games). The nine full member companies also participated in revenue pooling, and could quickly introduce new services to all nine members. Other telephone companies had to negotiate with Stentor or its predecessors to offer such services as 800 and 900 service.
The alliance controlled the following organizations:
On January 1, 1999, SRCI and SSC were disbanded [2] and their roles reassumed by their parent organizations, with SCNM remaining in place in a modified form. STPI was dissolved in 2004 [3] after its role had also diminished as the companies took divergent paths. At time of dissolution, about 1,800 people were employed by Stentor. [4]
Many of the Stentor companies have since become competitors, with several joining with Stentor's former competitors (Sprint, Rogers). Bell - the parent of Aliant, NorthwesTel, Télébec and Northern Telephone - almost immediately entered competition with Telus; Bell's ties with SaskTel have also weakened since then.
Present-day telecommunications in Canada include telephone, radio, television, and internet usage. In the past, telecommunications included telegraphy available through Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic; the combined company took the name Verizon.
Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video, smart home automation and IPTV television. The company is based in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area; it was originally based in Edmonton, Alberta, before its merger with BC Tel in 1999. Telus' wireless division, Telus Mobility, offers UMTS, and LTE-based mobile phone networks. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier in British Columbia and Alberta. Its primary competitors are Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Telus is a member of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.
Bell Canada is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; as such, it was a founding member of the Stentor Alliance. It is also a CLEC for enterprise customers in the western provinces.
An incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) is a local telephone company which held the regional monopoly on landline service before the market was opened to competitive local exchange carriers, or the corporate successor of such a firm.
Bell MTS Inc. is a subsidiary of BCE Inc. that operates telecommunications services in Manitoba.
British Columbia Telephone Company and later BC Tel was the legal name for the telephone company operating throughout the province of British Columbia, Canada. For most of its history, BC Tel was one of several regional monopolies in Canada. In 1985, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) restored competition in long-distance telephone service. In 1998, BC Tel merged with Telus to become the second largest telecommunications company in Canada.
Bell Aliant Inc. is a brand name used by Bell Canada for telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada.
Northwestel Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company that is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and long-distance carrier in the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and part of Northern British Columbia. Originally established in 1979 by the Canadian National Railway from CN's northern telecommunications assets, it has been owned by BCE Inc. since 1988.
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communications services, including landline telephone, mobile networks, broadband internet, IPTV, and security services. Through a subsidiary, SaskTel International, the company has also worked on telecom infrastructure projects in countries such as Argentina and the Bahamas, as well as being the lead implementation company for the communication and control systems of the Channel Tunnel between England and France.
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.
The New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited was a telecommunications company that operated in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The company was founded in 1888 after Bell Telephone Company of Canada's attempt to establish telephone service in the Maritimes failed and purchased Bell Canada's New Brunswick assets in 1889. In 1973, NBTel purchased the last independent telephone operator in New Brunswick, giving it a monopoly for telephone service in the province.
Bruncor, based in Saint John, New Brunswick was a Canadian telecommunications holding company and the parent company of NBTel.
Island Telecom Inc. was a Canadian internet service provider in Prince Edward Island. Its headquarters is located in Summerside.
NewTel Communications was a telephone and internet service provider in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Originally known as the Avalon Telephone Company, it served the Avalon Peninsula and later became the Newfoundland Telephone Company and served several additional regions: southwestern Newfoundland between Port-aux-Basques and Corner Brook; part of the Burin Peninsula; Windsor and Grand Falls; and most of Labrador. This was as a result of the acquisition of four smaller companies and their phone services from 1948 to 1962.
The Canadian Independent Telephone Association, now the Canadian Independent Telecommunications Association, is a nationwide association of companies that provide telephone service within British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, founded in 1905.
An independent telephone company was a telephone company providing local service in the United States or Canada that was not part of the Bell System organized by American Telephone and Telegraph. Independent telephone companies usually operated in many rural or sparsely populated areas.
The Island Telephone Company Limited (IslandTel) was a Canadian telephone service provider located in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It operated from 1929 to 1999, when merged into Bell Aliant.
This is a timeline of Telus Corporation, a publicly traded Canadian multinational holding company offering a range of telecommunications, health, safety, and security products and services. The company operates Telus Communications Inc., which offers telephony, television, data and Internet services, Telus Mobility, a division that offers wireless services, Telus Health, which operates companies that provide health products and services, and Telus International which operates worldwide, providing multilingual customer service outsourcing and digital IT services.