After years of dragging their feet, carriers finally have “the will” to adopt the latest in wireless technology that will allow them to ditch their old networks once and for all, according to Nordicity analyst Stephan Meyer. Canadian carriers only use the latest wireless technology, LTE, to carry text messages and data, while routing phone calls through their older CDMA or HSPA networks. The adoption of voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology means carriers can finally begin to move away from those older networks, freeing up spectrum and letting new kinds of mobile services flourish,...
Rogers Communications Inc. shelled out billions in this year’s 700 MHz spectrum auction for what was once “second-class” spectrum and what could now be the most coveted wireless real estate in the country, according to Nordicity analyst Stephan Meyer. Rogers spent $3.2 billion in the auction, the majority of which went to snapping up 20-year licences for contiguous A and B paired blocks of 700 MHz spectrum in every major wireless market in the country. The A block was previously “undesirable,” Meyer said in a phone interview, because carriers in the United...