Canada’s effort to expand mobile competition has likely failed with news that three of the most significant new independent entrants have put themselves up for sale, with one likely to be acquired by Telus, western Canada’s largest phone company.

With Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, and Telus dominating at least 90 percent of Canada’s wireless marketplace, breaking up the triopoly was unlikely to be easy, but three of Canada’s newest players that acquired spectrum just five years ago are already looking for exit strategies.

Bloomberg News reported Friday that Mobilicity is in talks to be imminently acquired by Telus for between $350-400 million. Public Mobile has hired investment bankers to find a buyer. Vimpelcom, Ltd., which owns Wind Mobile, announced it was “exploring its options, including divestment.”

The three companies have competed with the dominant players for about three years with little success. Combined, the three have not managed to achieve even a combined 10 percent market share. Most sell unlimited talk and text plans to customers that would normally buy prepaid service.

Potentially slowing any sale is a requirement that none of the independent companies can transfer their spectrum licenses until 2014, a condition of the 2008 special spectrum auction that reserved prime frequencies for new competitors and put them off-limits to larger mobile companies.

Telus remains the most likely suitor of independent providers because the company lacks the spectrum assets of its larger competitors Bell and Rogers.

Mobilicity operates its HSPA+ “4G” network on Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) frequencies in the 1,700MHz range. Although Telus has considerable spectrum in British Columbia and Alberta — its home territory — the provider has considerably less in eastern Canada, particularly in large metropolitan cities. Mobilicity has a tiny market share in the Greater Toronto Area, yet its AWS spectrum equals that of Telus in the city. Telus could find an acquisition of Mobilicity the easiest way to bolster its available spectrum for future 4G deployment and expansion.

Three small independent wireless providers hold almost as much combined spectrum as Telus holds today.

Any exit of a combination of Canada’s newest wireless players will likely be seen as a failure of the government’s efforts to bolster competition. The dominance among the three largest providers has left Canadians with high-cost plans and a wireless service contract that lasts one year longer than America’s standard two-year service agreement.

Industry Canada, the economic regulator fostering a growing, competitive and knowledge-based Canadian economy, had little to say about the news.

“Any transaction that requires regulatory approval will be considered accordingly,” said Alexandra Fortier, a spokeswoman for Industry Minister Christian Paradis. “We cannot comment on speculation.”

BNN reports industry consolidation is likely forthcoming in Canada’s wireless marketplace as Telus seeks to acquire independent provider Mobilicity. A financial analyst says the move is designed to curb budget-priced wireless service in Canada. Mobilicity would likely eventually be merged into Telus-owned Koodo Mobile, the company’s prepaid mobile division.  (5 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Globe and Mail Feds aim to open up wireless market 3-13.flv

Too little, too late? Industry Minister Christian Paradis says the Harper government wants to open up the wireless market to more players with another wireless spectrum auction. But now several of Canada’s newest independent providers are all up for sale, and the country’s dominant three may end up owning one or more of them.  (2 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Globe and Mail Market View Why we love to hate our wireless companies 3-13.flv

The Toronto Globe & Mail explores why Canadians hate their cell phone and mobile broadband providers so much.  (2 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. Bell: If You Don’t Sell Us the Frequencies, We’ll See That Rural Canada Gets Nothing
2. Independent Cell Providers Resign from Canadian Wireless Telecom Association
3. Cell Phone Companies Hoarding Cash/Credit for Spending Blitz on Canadian Spectrum
4. Canada’s Cellular Cartel: 3 Wireless Companies Control 94 Percent of the Market
5. Industry Minister Holds Closed Door Meetings With Big Telecoms And You’re Not Invited

Canada’s three major independent wireless companies have resigned from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association after claiming the group maintained a consistent bias in favor of the three largest carriers in the country.

Wind Mobile Canada, Public Mobile, and Mobilicity announced their departure in a joint press release.

“From this point, the CWTA does not, and cannot claim to speak on behalf of the Canadian mobile wireless sector,” said the news release.

“It has been evident for quite some time that, rather than being a true industry association which represents the views of all players regardless of size, the CWTA has instead largely been an advocate for Rogers, Telus, and Bell, and often directly contrary to the interests of new entrant wireless carriers,” said Bob Boron, general counsel and senior vice president of legal & regulatory affairs for Public Mobile.

“We have spent the better part of three years repeatedly voicing our opposition to the CWTA on a wide range of matters to the point of issuing a press release in January 2011 that publicly expressed our dissent on the CWTA’s position on wireless consumer protection,” added Gary Wong, director of legal affairs for Mobilicity. “There seems to be a blatant disregard of the new entrants in favor of acting in the best interests of the big three carriers, and it is unacceptable.”

The carriers suggest WCTA officials lured them into the trade association to bolster claims the group represents the collective interests of Canadian mobile providers. Once enrolled as members, the independents claim their concerns were ignored on a variety of issues.

“When we first approached the CWTA, we were promised clear and fair representation on issues of true industry alignment. But despite making our objections and concerns abundantly clear on numerous occasions, the CWTA has repeatedly failed to honor this promise, leaving us no alternative but to withdraw,” said Simon Lockie, chief regulatory officer at Wind Mobile.

Among the major points of contention:

• The independents favor transparency on mobile phone bills, with better disclosure of which services are optional or mandatory, the exact pricing of those services, contract termination fees and penalties. The three major carriers oppose anything beyond self-regulation;
• The CWTA argues Canadians have a highly competitive wireless marketplace with rates to match. The independent providers strongly disagree, claiming Canadians pay some of the highest rates in the world for cell service;
• The CWTA favors and supports three-year contracts for cell phone service, the independent providers do not.

“The many contributions of Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile will certainly be missed, and CWTA would welcome their return to the association in the future,” a CWTA official said in a written statement.

Other stories of interest:

1. Cell Phone Companies Hoarding Cash/Credit for Spending Blitz on Canadian Spectrum
2. WIND Mobile Saves One Rural Canadian $160/Month Over Rogers’ Wireless Broadband
3. Rogers Launches Astroturf Campaign to Recruit Customers to Lobby For Spectrum… for Rogers
4. CRTC Runs ‘Show Trial’ Hearings Attacking Would-Be Wireless Competitor; Is CRTC Industry Trade Group or Independent Regulator?
5. Canadian Government Overturns CRTC, Admits Globalive’s Wind Mobile to Canadian Mobile Phone Marketplace

In spring of this year, rural Canadian access to the Inukshuk Wireless system was terminated, forcing many to usage-capped wireless plans from companies like Rogers Communications that cost a lot more.

Kevin, a Stop the Cap! reader dropped us a line this week to remind Canadians they don’t have to pay Bell, Rogers or Telus big dollars for a small wireless usage allowance.

“After a bit of shopping, I signed up for WIND Wireless and it has been a positive experience,” Kevin writes. “Their customers service is leaps and bounds better than the big three and I get 10GB of usage for $35 a month.”

Once Kevin exhausts his usage allowance, he keeps right on browsing because Wind does not charge overlimit fees — they throttle speeds downwards, but not to the punishing dial-up-like speeds of most other providers.

“I’ve streamed music and video after I’ve hit 10GB,” Kevin writes, although he admits YouTube can be a bit problematic with buffering issues at the slower speeds.

Kevin says if he stuck with Rogers he would be paying them around $195 a month for the same usage he pays $35 for with WIND.

“Who cares about the speed of Rogers’ LTE network when you pay that much,” Kevin adds.

WIND Mobile is one of a handful of upstart independent cell phone providers challenging the dominance of incumbent telecommunications companies that have set the standards for high Canadian broadband pricing and low usage caps. Kevin wishes more Canadians would consider switching away from dominant providers to send them a message they have to compete with lower prices and better service.

Other stories of interest:

1. Rogers Abandoning Portable Internet Service: Internet Overcharging 3G in Rural Canada’s Future
2. Rogers Bumps ‘Lite’ Usage Tier Allowance Up 5GB a Month, Speed Now 6Mbps
3. Rogers’ Usage Limbo Dance Continues: Company Slightly Raises Cap It Slashed Last Year
4. Rogers Throws Customers A Few Scraps: Faster Speeds, Tiny Increases in Usage Allowance
5. Capping the Cappers: Putting Limits on How Many Licenses Rogers, Telus and Bell Can Buy

Bell this week brought out its saber collection for a little rattling in Ottawa over the Canadian government’s consideration of a plan to set aside certain mobile spectrum for new competitors.

A mobile spectrum auction, expected later this year, will increase the number of 700Mhz frequencies available for wireless communications.

Some of Canada’s largest cell phone companies are well-positioned to outbid the competition, but not if Industry Canada decides it needs to set aside some of the frequencies for an auction among smaller competitors.

BCE, Inc., the parent company of Bell, has little regard for that plan and has now joined Rogers in a lobbying effort for an “open and transparent” sale, which effectively means the highest bidder takes all.

If Canada doesn’t follow Bell’s advice, the company is threatening to withhold advanced mobile Internet services in Canada’s lesser-populated regions.

“An auction for this spectrum that isn’t open and transparent would limit the amount of spectrum available to Bell, forcing a focus on more densely populated centers in order for Bell to compete with new carriers,” the company said in a news release.

In response, Wind Mobile, one of the newest entrants in the Canadian mobile market, said it would sit out of a spectrum auction that favored deep-pocketed incumbents with winner-take-all rules.  In short, it could not afford the prices players like Rogers and Bell will be able to bid for the new frequencies.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis was unwilling to set an exact date or format for the 700MHz spectrum auctions.  Observers suspect if he waits much longer, the auction won’t take place until 2013.

Just three major wireless companies — Bell, Rogers, and Telus, control 94 percent of the Canadian wireless market.

Other stories of interest:

1. Cell Phone Companies Hoarding Cash/Credit for Spending Blitz on Canadian Spectrum
2. Rogers Launches Astroturf Campaign to Recruit Customers to Lobby For Spectrum… for Rogers
3. Industry Minister Holds Closed Door Meetings With Big Telecoms And You’re Not Invited
4. Capping the Cappers: Putting Limits on How Many Licenses Rogers, Telus and Bell Can Buy
5. What Spectrum Crunch? Rogers Caps Your Data Usage But Plans Unlimited LTE Video-on-Demand

Upcoming wireless spectrum auctions are critically important for some of Canada’s newest players in the cell phone marketplace.  Most are working hard to make sure they have plenty to spend to secure new frequencies for advanced wireless services that will help them remain competitive with larger players.

Globalive Holdings, the parent company of Wind Mobile, has convinced backers to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in financing, so long as all of the money is spent on acquiring wireless spectrum.

Wind’s nearly 400,000 customers will appreciate the additional room for growth, and new customers may keep Wind in mind for advanced 4G networks most Canadian providers intend to build and expand into the new spectrum they acquire at an auction next year.

Much of the funding, estimated to approach nearly a half-billion dollars, is coming from Wind’s parent entities, Egypt-based Orascom Telecom and the European conglomerate VimpelCom that acquired Orascom earlier this year.  Because the Canadian government is expected to set-aside some of the valued 700MHz spectrum exclusively for bidding among new entrants in the market, Wind could walk away a big winner, particularly if other similar-sized competitors Mobilicity and Vidéotron Ltee./Quebecor have trouble raising enough money to remain competitive in the bidding.

As far as Canada’s largest cell companies are concerned, set-asides are unnecessary and they prefer a winner-take-all auction.  Rogers, in particular, has been lobbying hard to convince Canadian officials it needs access to the 700MHz spectrum up for auction to roll out service in rural communities and upgrade networks in larger cities.

Those who feel Canada’s cell phone marketplace is already too concentrated have little sympathy for Rogers’ point of view, and expect an auction free-for-all will mean the largest incumbent players will walk away with everything they can bid on.

Among smaller players, assuming the set-asides are in place, analysts expect Wind will probably secure the most spectrum, but Vidéotron is expected to stay competitive and walk away with at least some frequencies for use in its home province of Quebec.  Big losses among the smaller players could fuel calls for additional mergers and acquisitions among those carriers deemed to have been left behind.

The Canadian government is expected to be the biggest winner of all, netting a potential $3-4 billion from the spectrum sale.

Other stories of interest:

1. Rogers Launches Astroturf Campaign to Recruit Customers to Lobby For Spectrum… for Rogers
2. Capping the Cappers: Putting Limits on How Many Licenses Rogers, Telus and Bell Can Buy
3. Canadian Government Overturns CRTC, Admits Globalive’s Wind Mobile to Canadian Mobile Phone Marketplace
4. Canada’s Cellular Cartel: 3 Wireless Companies Control 94 Percent of the Market
5. Industry Minister Holds Closed Door Meetings With Big Telecoms And You’re Not Invited

Industry Minister Christian Paradis just completed nearly two weeks of private meetings with some of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies regarding issues important to the industry, but has not scheduled face time with ordinary Canadian consumers or the public interest consumer groups that represent their interests.

Minister Paradis

Wire Report provided the schedule:

Aug. 16
Cogeco Cable Inc.
Shaw Communications Inc.
Quebecor Media Inc.
Globalive Wireless Management Corp.
Xplornet Communications Inc.
Public Mobile

Aug. 17
EastLink
BCE Inc.
Mobilicity
Telus Communications Co.

Aug. 22
Rogers Communications Inc.
MTS Allstream

Aug. 24
SaskTel

Bloomberg reports the primary topic on the agenda is upcoming spectrum auctions for additional wireless frequencies and loosening restrictions on foreign-ownership rules regarding would-be wireless competitors interested in entering Canada’s cell phone marketplace, which currently has the third-highest prices for mobile-phone services in the world, according to the OECD.

A rules change regarding foreign ownership may open the door...

Canadian telecom providers may not have more than 20 percent of their operations owned or controlled by foreign entities, a percentage that could be adjusted in the coming months.  But while changes in foreign ownership rules may benefit new entrants like Globalive Holdings, which operates Wind Mobile, it could also spell profound changes for millions of Canadians.  Industry analyst Dvai Ghose told Bloomberg he expects any relaxation of foreign-ownership rules may also pave the way for a mega merger of Bell and Telus.

“If you allow foreigners into our market, it becomes much more compelling to say we should allow one Canadian champion,” said Ghose, co-head of Canadian research at Canaccord Genuity.

That “champion” could quickly become Canada’s version of AT&T, dramatically reducing competition and raising prices, especially for captive landline customers who rely on the companies for broadband and landline service.  Telus and Bell currently compete with one another in the wireless market, where they would have an enormous share and combined market power should they be permitted to merge.

That would be a high price to pay for many Canadian consumers who do business with Bell or Telus, especially when contrasted with the fact Wind Mobile has attracted only 271,000 customers as of the end of March 2011.

...to a mega-merger of Bell and Telus.

Unfortunately, consumers are not included in Minister Paradis’ day-planner to share their views of further marketplace consolidation or wireless spectrum reform.  In fact, they don’t even have a right to learn what exactly was discussed during the closed door sessions.

A spokeswoman for Paradis, Pascale Boulay, would only confirm the minister met with 13 companies since Aug. 16, but refused to elaborate on the meetings.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski tried this approach with some of America’s largest telecommunications companies last summer, holding a series of closed door meetings.  They eventually produced telecommunications policies so watered down, they neutralized Genachowski’s earlier commitments to protect Net Neutrality and foster additional competition.  Will Canada repeat America’s mistake?

Other stories of interest:

1. Capping the Cappers: Putting Limits on How Many Licenses Rogers, Telus and Bell Can Buy
2. CRTC Runs ‘Show Trial’ Hearings Attacking Would-Be Wireless Competitor; Is CRTC Industry Trade Group or Independent Regulator?
3. Canada’s Cellular Cartel: 3 Wireless Companies Control 94 Percent of the Market
4. Canadian Mobile Data Wars: Rogers May Be Forced to Pull Down “Most Reliable” Ads – Telus’ Goats Jump for Joy
5. Canadian Government Overturns CRTC, Admits Globalive’s Wind Mobile to Canadian Mobile Phone Marketplace

Next time you wonder why you are paying substantially higher cell phone bills than your neighbors abroad, take note: just three cell phone companies control 94 percent of the wireless marketplace in Canada, with more than 23.5 million combined subscribers.  The four other significant carriers have a combined subscriber base of around 1.5 million, hardly worth noticing by the largest three:

Rogers Communications

The telecom giant Rogers controls the largest share of the Canadian wireless market with 9,127,000 subscribers as of the end of June.  Nearly 7.5 million of those customers are on two year contracts and pay an average bill of $70.07 per month.  Prepaid customers pay substantially less for their occasional-use phones: $16.14 a month.  Rogers adds more subscribers than it loses, picking up 591,000 new customers during the first quarter, while losing 456,000 current customers, winning a net gain of 135,000.

Data revenue is becoming increasingly important for Rogers, now constituting 35 percent of earnings for the company’s wireless division.

Bell

Coming in at second place is Bell Canada, with 7,283,000 customers.  Over 5.7 million are on contract, 1.6 million are using Bell prepaid phones.  Bell added just under 38,000 new customers last quarter, the smallest net add among the three largest providers.  The average contract customer pays Bell $63.18 a month; prepaid customers pay $16.88.

Telus Mobility

Telus, western Canada’s largest phone company, sells wireless service across the country and has become the third largest wireless provider with 5.8 million contract customers and 1.2 million prepaid clients.  Together, they pay an average of $58.88 a month.  Telus picked up 94,000 net additions last quarter, which is better than Bell but worse than Rogers.

Everyone Else

Among the rest, Saskatchewan’s phone company Sasktel had managed to reach 568,000 subscribers, mostly in the province, as of late March.  MTS Allstream Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom came in with 489,722 customers.  Videotron, Quebec’s biggest cable company, had 210,600 clients, mostly in Quebec.

Among the newest entrants, Wind Mobile, subject to considerable controversy for its foreign financial backing, may one day be a much larger player in Canada’s wireless marketplace, but not today.  It had just 271,000 customers as of March 31st.

Even fewer customers rely on some of Canada’s regional providers, which include companies like Thunder Bay Telephone, Lynx Mobility (co-owned by an aboriginal partner with a mission to serve rural Canada), Calgary-based AirTel, which is popular with oil/gas workers for its “push to talk” service, and Ice Wireless, which is the largest GSM carrier in northern Canada, reaching 70% of the population of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Canada’s largest three providers also own or control several “competitors” that mostly sell prepaid service.  Customers thinking they are escaping the big boys often really are not:

• Fido is owned by Rogers;
• Virgin Mobile Canada is owned by Bell;
• Koodo Mobile is owned by Telus

Other stories of interest:

1. Capping the Cappers: Putting Limits on How Many Licenses Rogers, Telus and Bell Can Buy
2. Competition Bureau Fines Bell $10 Million for Misleading Consumers About Pricing
3. Verizon Wireless Introducing Prepaid Mobile Broadband – 5GB for $80: ‘Way Overpriced,’ Critics Say
4. CRTC Runs ‘Show Trial’ Hearings Attacking Would-Be Wireless Competitor; Is CRTC Industry Trade Group or Independent Regulator?
5. Bell Admits Usage Billing is About Smashing Independent Competition

Anthony Lacavera

Large Canadian telecommunications companies like Rogers, Telus, and Bell are loudly protesting a proposal to cap the maximum number of wireless licenses they can beg, borrow, or buy.

The proposal, from Wind Mobile and Quebecor Inc.’s Vidéotron Ltée, would tell some of Canada’s largest telecom companies they cannot buy up every available wireless license that becomes available in the future in an effort to lock out would-be competitors.  Both companies fear that without such a license cap, the deep pockets of larger providers could sustain a wireless cartel to keep mobile competition at bay.

“Competition doesn’t just ‘happen’,” said Wind Mobile’s Anthony Lacavera. “True competition and the long term benefits of competition for Canadians will occur when, and if, our regulatory framework is improved, our access to foreign capital is unhindered and the playing field is leveled to the benefit of Canadians.”

Lacavera’s upstart Wind Mobile has faced incumbent provider-fueled scrutiny over claims of foreign ownership violations in an effort to keep Wind’s discount service out of Canada.  In addition to fending off regulatory challenges, Lacavera is wary of Conservative Party policy towards wireless competition, which he suspects is too shallow and lacks important protections against further marketplace concentration.

The idea of a license limit met with predictable hostility from the three larger incumbents.

On Wednesday, Telus’ chief financial officer rejected the idea out of hand, telling the government they should not be giving advantages to discount carriers and foreign entities over Telus, which he said was more focused on “innovation.”

Wind Mobile

Rogers called a license cap “a slap in the face” to millions of their customers, and Bell pulled an AT&T — without allowing companies like Bell to have the chance to outbid everyone else, Canada will run the “risk of lagging” behind the United States, harm innovation, and deprive the government of much needed auction revenue.

Bell CEO George Cope also warned letting foreign companies into the Canadian market could leave rural Canada with older technology.  At the risk of shooting down his own earlier argument, Cope specifically targeted his remarks at U.S. carriers, who presumably could be among Canada’s future wireless players.  In Cope’s mind, U.S. providers like AT&T would treat Canada as an afterthought.

“If you really believe that if a U.S. carrier had owned Bell at the time we launched HSPA+ (an advanced iteration of 3G), do you really believe Prince Edward Island, that province, would have had HSPA+ before Chicago?” Cope asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Large incumbent carriers also accused the smaller competing upstarts of simply trying to boost their own value before they sell out.  Telus and Rogers should know — they fought over buying that competition, like Microcell’s Fido, which Rogers eventually acquired in 2004.

Other stories of interest:

1. Canadian Mobile Data Wars: Rogers May Be Forced to Pull Down “Most Reliable” Ads – Telus’ Goats Jump for Joy
2. Canada Call to Action! Bell Canada Petition Would Limit Competitive Internet Access in Ontario & Quebec
3. Bell Admits Usage Billing is About Smashing Independent Competition
4. Telecom Deregulation Fails Canadian Consumers: Mediocre Broadband Now Comes With Limits
5. Catching Up With the Times: Bell To Boost Internet Speeds to 100Mbps In Ontario and Quebec, But They’ll Still Limit Use

Wind Mobile uses "home zones" as their version of "in network" calling. Placing calls outside of your home zone is akin to "roaming" and can incur additional costs. Here is their service area in the metro GTA (Toronto-Hamilton).

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has been overruled in an upset decision by the Harper government to admit new competition into Canada’s mobile phone marketplace.  Earlier this fall, the CRTC denied a license to Globalive to begin mobile service under its Wind Mobile brand, agreeing with objections from incumbent providers Bell, Rogers, and Telus that the company was not sufficiently “Canadian enough” in its ownership to operate legally in the country.  The CRTC decision upset many consumers who saw the regulatory body overprotecting the interests of the country’s three large mobile providers, effectively keeping competition out of Canada.

Canada’s version of the FCC ruled that because the Toronto-based company received most of its funding from Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire that runs Egypt’s telecommunications provider Orascom, it disqualified Globalive from doing business in Canada.  Cell phone providers in Canada must be majority owned by Canadian citizens.

Apparently the decision was so egregiously wrong, the Harper government overturned it on December 11th.  Industry Minister Tony Clement said a government review of Globalive found the company did meet Canadian ownership requirements and reversed the CRTC decision effective immediately.

The Harper government’s direct intervention in the Globalive matter rocked Canada’s existing mobile providers.

“If Wind is Canadian, then so was King Tut,” Michael Hennessy, head of regulatory affairs for Telus, wrote on his Twitter page. “When you have no effective opposition party, you can make the rules you want.”

Rogers has repeatedly insisted there is no room for a fourth player in Canadian mobile, claiming there isn’t enough business to go around.  Stockholders apparently agreed and shares of all three incumbents dropped when the news broke that Wind Mobile was on the way in Toronto and Calgary in as little as a week.  Indeed, some analysts predict Globalive’s entry could force two of the existing carriers to merge — most likely Bell and Telus.

Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed: “There’s no question in my mind that Canada cannot support more than three national facilities-based players,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News the day before the government decision. “It’s inconceivable to me.”

“We think Globalive clearly does not meet the requirements for Canadian control,” Bell officials said in a statement. “We’ll be taking a close look at the reasoning behind this decision.”

Canadian consumers are excited about the arrival of competition in a marketplace with three providers charging essentially identical high pricing for mobile service.

Wind Mobile could dramatically change the the entire business model of Canada’s cell phone marketplace because most of its plans offer flat rate service for Canadian customers with no overage fees.  It also does away with the nickle-and-dime fees consumers hate, with no charges for “system access,” “911,” and other non-government-imposed fees and surcharges.  Wind doesn’t even charge for incoming text messages or received long distance phone calls.  That means text spam doesn’t cost you anything beyond irritation.

In return for not subsidizing the cost of your phone, the company doesn’t compel subscribers to remain on lengthy service contracts.  That Blackberry Bold 9700 that costs $199 on AT&T or T-Mobile’s network in the United States costs $450CDN from Wind Mobile, but no two year contract is required.

The only downside?  Wind Mobile’s network is very limited at present to Toronto and Calgary, and while service is available throughout Canada, using it will incur roaming charges around 25 cents per minute.  Most early Wind Mobile customers will likely be those who don’t roam too far from home because of these limitations.

CBC Television ran extensive coverage of the government decision to admit Globalive into the Canadian mobile marketplace.  We’ve combined several reports into a single clip that explores consumer reaction, the government’s logic in permitting Wind Mobile to start service, as well as the discontent from existing providers who feel the decision is unfair.  (12/11/09 – 21 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CTV Coverage Wind Mobile 12-11-09.flv

CTV News also covered the story, and included a more extensive review of what consumers can expect from the deal.  (12/11/09 – 5 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Global CRTC Decision Lets Wind Mobile In 12-11-09.flv

Global Television led its newscast with the story on December 11th, and included a pouting Telus representative.  (2 minutes)

More video coverage can be found below.

Wind Mobile Pricing & Features (provided by Wind Mobile, all prices in Canadian dollars)

Handsets / Devices:

BlackBerry Bold 9700 …… $450
HTC Maple ………………….. $300
Samsung Gravity 2 ……….. $150
Huawei U7519 ……………… $130
Huawei E181 data stick…….$150

Here’s what we don’t have:

• No system access fees
• No 911 fees
• No activation fee
• Never a charge for incoming texts
• No charge for incoming long distance calls
• No difference between plans for postpaid and prepaid
• No contracts. Our Customers stay with us because they want to, not because they have to.

What we do have:

• Nation-wide coverage with a domestic roaming partner
• Unlimited calling (incoming and outgoing) in the GTA and Calgary to start, followed by Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa in early 2010
• Unlimited WIND to WIND calling across Canada included on all plans
• Unlimited province-wide calling on the $35 plan
• Unlimited Canada-wide calling on the $45 plan
• Call control included on all plans (missed call alerts, caller ID, call forward, call waiting)

Wind Mobile's Voice & Text Plans

Wind Mobile's data plan has a 5GB per month "fair access policy" limit, similar to that offered by Cricket Wireless. Exceed it, and the company reserves the right to throttle your speeds until the month is up.

Watch more video coverage below.

… Continue Reading

Other stories of interest:

1. CRTC Runs ‘Show Trial’ Hearings Attacking Would-Be Wireless Competitor; Is CRTC Industry Trade Group or Independent Regulator?
2. Canadian Mobile Data Wars: Rogers May Be Forced to Pull Down “Most Reliable” Ads – Telus’ Goats Jump for Joy
3. Shaw Invades Ontario With Approval of Mountain Cablevision Acquisition, Becomes Canada’s Largest Cable Operator
4. CRTC Embarrassed By FCC Net Neutrality Actions?
5. Hey CRTC: Thanks for Nothing (Again) – Canada’s Net Neutrality Rules Demand Abusive Practices Be Disclosed, Not Stopped