Rogers and MTS Allstream forge new relationship

Rogers Communications Inc. has inked an agreement with MTS Allstream Inc. that will see the Manitoba-based company launch a national wireless offering as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) under the Allstream brand. The two companies have also agreed to jointly build an HSPA network in Manitoba. Rob Bruce, president of Rogers Wireless, underscored the importance of the MTS deal as a way for Rogers to get a larger share of enterprise wireless revenue. He acknowledged that Rogers has a solid presence in the enterprise market with its various BlackBerry offerings, but it’s a small player compared to Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility. “This gives us yet another way to reach into that market and realize revenue dollars that we might not otherwise get,” Bruce said during the company’s second quarter financial and subscriber results conference call earlier this week. “We’ve had good luck over time with MVNOs as a source of revenue and we think that this will be no exception.” MTS CEO Pierre Blouin said the company already has a lot of resources in place to launch a national wireless service, pointing to a network of national agents ready to add wireless to their portfolio. “With this arrangement we will be well positioned to sell outside of Manitoba a wireless product using a reliable and extensive HSPA network providing to customers what we expect to be unique wireless and wireline bundles and offer even more product choices to our customers nationally,” Blouin said during a conference call with analysts earlier this week. “Over the coming quarters we will finalize our plans and will provide more details when they are available.” Dean Prevost, president of MTS’s enterprise business, added that the company will be competitive as a result of having access to the full suite of services from Rogers as well as favourable roaming terms outside of Manitoba. “We’ve taken care of that in the agreement to allow for our pricing to reflect what’s happening in the marketplace,” he said. Blouin reiterated: “We believe that the agreement we have enables us to be competitive in the market. Wireless is a business we’ve been in for a while and as you know we spent the last two and half years looking at wireless and a national wireless business, whether it was for the spectrum auction or for this deal now, so we’ve done a lot of work on it and we think the deal we have in place enables to be competitive.”

Rogers and MTS Allstream forge new relationship

News | July 30, 2009

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