A disappointing decision by Cape Breton’s economic development agency to stop funding the Baddeck International New Media Festival has reportedly led the event to relocate to Prince Edward Island. Following notification by key sponsor Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. (ECBC) that it wouldn’t continue to put money into the industry event, TechPEI has apparently picked up the ball with a multi-year commitment to organizers to put the festival on the western tip of the island.
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Microcell unveils new pre-paid pricing strategy Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has introduced a new 15 cents per minute pricing plan for pre-paid subscribers. The company is offering a $15-voucher with a validity period of 15 days and a $30-voucher good for 30 days. Beginning September 16, Microcell will shift from per-second billing to per-minute billing for all pre-paid airtime. The company will continue to offer pre-paid airtime with longer validity periods: $10 for 30 days and $25 for 60 days. These vouchers will offer airtime at 30 cents per minute. During the second quarter, Microcell added nearly 43,000 subscribers with approximately 12,000 signing up for post-paid airtime packages. The company continues to experience a significantly higher churn rate than its competitors, posting a blended monthly churn rate of 3% compared to 2.3% in last year’s same quarter. In its financials, Microcell also indicated an inability to find business partners to launch its MCS operations to be carried out by Inukshuk Internet Inc. As a result, Microcell wrote down the value of Inukshuk’s MCS licences to nil. The non-cash charge was $223.4 million. The company also announced that it may not be able to satisfy certain covenants under its debt agreements, which raises the uncertainty of whether the company can continue as a going concern. Microcell has retained the services of Rothschild to act as its financial advisor.
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Mike Lazaridis, founder, president and co-CEO of Research in Motion Ltd., has been appointed to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for a term of three years. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the council, according to Industry Minister Allan Rock. "As an outstanding innovator and successful head of one of Canada’s fastest growing technology companies, his contribution to the council is sure to be substantial and dynamic," Rock said in a news release.
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COM DEV unloads final pieces of wireless business to Broadband unit’s president COM DEV International Ltd. has made its final exit from the wireless business by unloading its COM DEV Broadband unit to Axio Wireless Inc., a company headed up by the broadband unit’s former president and some former managers. The Cambridge ON-based company has agreed to sell no greater than 87 per cent of the unit to John O’Connell. Terms of the details were not released. In an August 9 news release announcing the deal, COM DEV CEO Keith Ainsworth said:"This transaction allows us to cleanly close out M/ERGY activity with the end of the third quarter and restore focus on the company’s profitable core space business." Earlier this year, the company sold portions of its wireless business to Mitec Telecom Inc. (RoW Update, Jan. 14/02). In its second-quarter financials announced in May, the company noted the difficulty it was having in trying to land sales for its broadband wireless product, M/ERGY. COM DEV announced that it had hired John O’Connell as president of its Broadband unit to "refocus and restructure the business as a separate company". In a May 29 conference call, Ainsworth noted that driving revenue from the M/ERGY product has been more problematic than anticipated, despite interest from several carriers to implement the base technology (1X-EV-DO) in their next-generation wireless networks. "We missed the mark" on a revenue and sales perspective, Ainsworth told analysts in May. "We’ve been unable to capitalize on the lead we had." As a result, COM DEV began to reduce costs in the division and restructure and develop it as a separate company. New management will then be charged with charting a different course for the company," Ainsworth said.
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An undisclosed customer is refusing to pay $2.6 million in new contribution charges passed on by satellite service provider Telesat Canada. The charge is part of the CRTC’s contribution regime that affects telecom and broadcast carriers using Telesat’s satellite services. Broadcast users, especially, have vigorously opposed the new charges, which require them to now help subsidize local telephone service in high-cost serving areas (RoW, June 11/02).
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Satellite phone venture Iridium Satellite LLC has found itself on solid financial footing after about a year and a half of operations under new management, exceeding revenue targets and landing some significant deals. After purchasing the formerly Motorola Inc.-backed outfit for a mere US$25 million, targeting commercial users in remote areas has become the company’s key focus.
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The Canadian government is again planning a trade mission to Southeast Asia next spring that it hopes will boost the flow of Canadian wireless products and services to the region. Industry Canada had scheduled a trade mission to the region earlier this year, but was scuttled due to the after-effects of September 11, which saw several of the participating companies cancel (RoW, Aug. 21/01).
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Canada’s wireless lobby is urging the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider allocating the entire 1710-1770 MHz and the 2110-2170 MHz frequency ranges for third-generation wireless services, following the release of a report indicating only a portion of the spectrum can be offered. In a report released July 22, the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) indicates that, in its view, only three-quarters of the spectrum can be released to the commercial sector.
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Two BCE Inc. subsidiaries, Telesat Canada and Bell ExpressVu LP, have expressed interest in developing new broadcasting-satellite service (BSS) spectrum that will become available in the spring of 2007. The two companies are responding to DGRB-003-02, an Industry Canada call for expressions of interest in orbital positions using the BSS band in the 17.3-17.8 GHz range (RoW, June 11/02).
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