Canadian wireless landscape set to change next year

The Canadian wireless industry will see some significant changes in the next year with many new entrants planning service launches in the coming months, following their wins in the recent Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum auction. While Vidéotron, Globalive Communications and BMV Holdings have announced 2009 launch plans, western cable giant Shaw Communications has decided to hold off on any significant wireless investments in 2009.BMV, known during the AWS auction as 6934579 Canada Inc., plans to be a price leader, offering unlimited talk and text with a flat-rate pricing scheme. "Providing consumer-friendly service and a predictable monthly bill, BMV will make wireless services affordable to the large underserved population of Canada," the company noted in a statement last week.The company secured the rights to 10 MHz of spectrum in the G-band for about $52 million covering nearly 19 million people in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor. The company will launch in the third quarter of 2009.The bandwidth was considered low-end real estate by many because a lack of network gear and handsets would make building out a network in this band expensive. However, a report from the SeaBoard Group says the "G-band may have been the buy of the decade.""Chipsets from Qualcomm and Avago support the entire AWS/PCS spectrum, including G block, and CDMA base-station radios from Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent are also G-block capable," noted the report, Sow's Ear into a Silk Purse: Exploiting the Potential of the G-Block.Vidéotron unveiled its wireless plans last month as well, noting that its service would be fully operational by the end of 2009. The cable and telecom operator plans to invest $250 million to build out its network in addition to the $555 million spent acquiring 40 MHz of spectrum in Quebec.While the company hasn't yet announced any pricing plans, Robert Dépatie, president and CEO of Vidéotron said during a recent press conference that "The offering will be simple, clear and easy to understand, transparent, with no hidden fees."As well, the Quebec cable company isn't going to offer a simple telephony service. Vidéotron plans to leverage is vast holdings in the content world to offer a rich experience for all types of users. "The offering will give consumers and small businesses what they want, whether it is information, entertainment or telephone service," Dépatie said.Globalive was the first out of the gate. The communications firm, which operates the popular long distance and dial-around brand Yak, will offer a no-frills, low-cost wireless service that will appeal to primarily voice customers. In interview with Report on Wireless last month, Tony Lacavera said Yak Wireless will offer a lower-end pre-paid service in addition to a more expensive all-you-can-eat type package. The company will also adopt mobile advertising as a means to either offset airtime costs or give customers discounts on other products.Data & Audio-Visual Enteprises Wireless (DAVE), a company backed by John Bitove, is rumoured to be eyeing a low-cost wireless service, focusing primarily on voice users. EastLink, the cable company of Bragg Communications, has yet to make its plans known, but it seems likely it will want to somehow package its cable and wireless services in a bundle, perhaps implementing a mobile TV service as well.Shaw, which stated from the outset of the auction that even it won spectrum, it wasn't necessarily going to use it, has now come clean with its plans: nothing on the horizon for 2009."The idea of spending a billion dollars like some others for a long term future return on wireless simply wouldn't be in our DNA, and certainly not in volatile and uncertain conditions we're experiencing in the market these days," Jim Shaw, vice-chair and CEO remarked during his opening address to the company's fourth quarter and year-end financial and subscriber results conference call.Under questioning, he reiterated Shaw's focus on its core services for the residential customer. "We're a believer in wireless, but we're saying during the economic times we're in now, it is not prudent," Shaw said. "We feel we're better to come up with and launch a new 100 Mbit service to provide another level of competition, to provide the frame a newer HD product, a bigger VOD file server. You should from us a whole offering of movies and content to give more flexibility to our main consumer which is still the residential home."However Shaw said there could be some activity on the wireless front next year. "I wouldn't rule everything out," he said. The CEO noted that the company will likely conduct some tests next year, explore some roaming arrangement possibilities as well as talk to potential partners about cooperating on network builds."We're just saying that it's not going to be a material for Shaw in 2009," Shaw said.

Canadian wireless landscape set to change next year

News | 11/03/2008 8:44 pm EST

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