OTTAWA — Proposed federal legislation that caps wholesale wireless prices is a good start but “doesn’t solve the issue,” Wind Mobile co-founder and chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie told a Senate hearing on Tuesday. Lockie said the domestic roaming agreement his upstart carrier signed with Rogers Communications Inc. in 2009 in order to provide Wind’s customers with service outside a few major cities was "absolutely terrible.” Provisions in the government’s budget bill, C-31, would cap domestic roaming fees at a rate hundreds of times cheaper...
Canada’s wholesale wireless market is “dominated by an oligopoly” and is not competitive enough to “stem abuses” from the three incumbent wireless providers, Wind Mobile told the CRTC in an intervention it filed as part of the regulator’s review of wholesale wireless services. The document, submitted by Wind Mobile’s parent company Globalive Wireless Management Corp. on May 15, said there is a “pressing need” for the CRTC to intervene in the...
Wind Mobile said the first quarter of 2014 was its “best quarter ever” as it gained more than 25,000 subscribers and saw its average revenue per user jump to 12 per cent more than it was a year earlier. The company...
Analysts say a new advertising campaign by Wind Mobile that aims to pick up customers from Mobilicity and Public Mobile may be successful as the new-entrant carrier tries to capitalize on the woes of...
OTTAWA — Telecommunications companies don’t voluntarily give out confidential customer information to the government, said William Abbott, senior counsel and privacy ombudsman at BCE Inc....
The $350-million bid by Telus Corp. for Mobilicity could set up a test of Industry Canada’s regulatory power over the sale of wireless spectrum and competition within the wireless industry,...
Mobilicity announced late Thursday night that it has reached a deal to be purchased by Telus Corp. for $350 million. Mobilicity, which has been under bankruptcy protection since September last year, said in a press release the transaction would need the approval of the Ontario Superior Court, the federal Competition Bureau, Industry Canada and debtholders. "The transaction is a good outcome from Mobilicity's restructuring efforts and extensive sales process," William Aziz, Mobilicity's chief restructuring officer, said in the release. "I am confident the transaction will serve the best interests of Mobilicity's customers and employees." Industry Canada had blocked an initial attempt by Telus to purchase Mobilicity in June of last year, and even after the...
Wind Mobile said Thursday that its subscriber numbers have hit 700,000, as it also announced what it called a “plethora” of new unlimited mobile plans. That subscriber figure is a jump of more than 50,000 from the...
The government has released details of its plans for a clamp down on the domestic roaming rates Canada’s carriers charge one another for the privilege of moving between networks. New-entrant wireless providers, such as Wind...
OTTAWA — Bernard Lord, CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said that Telus Corp.’s decision to leave his group affects the association, though because of the way...
VimpelCom Ltd., the Amsterdam-based majority owner of Wind Mobile, announced on Wednesday that it is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as Dutch authorities in...
VimpelCom Ltd., the majority owner of Canada’s Wind Mobile, has ended talks for the possible acquisition of Pakistan-based carrier Warid Telecom, Bloomberg reported Monday. Warid is owned by Abu Dhabi Group and one of five...
Wind Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera said it’s “business as usual” at his company following the decision by majority owner VimpelCom Ltd. to write down the value of its $768-million US stake in the Canadian wireless...
Industry Minister James Moore will announce the results of the government’s 700 MHz spectrum auction Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, the federal government said Tuesday. The auction opened Jan. 14 and was a chance for...
OTTAWA — Industry Canada is updating its wireless tower-site rules to remove “loopholes” that allowed wireless providers to build shorter towers without first consulting local...
Comments made to the CRTC as part of its review of domestic roaming rates paint a picture of different alliances made among Canadian wireless carriers — reminiscent of the TV show Survivor — with difficult circumstances facing those who find themselves on the outside of these relationships. In a submission to the CRTC, also shared with The Wire Report, Wind Mobile’s operating firm Globalive Wireless Management Corp. talked about “a large differential” in the...
Telus Corp. and Quebecor Inc. are the leading bidders for Mobilicity, the new-entrant wireless carrier that’s been in bankruptcy protection since September, according to an article in the Globe...
Wind Mobile’s chief executive says the company is surging in the absence of stable new entrant competitors, though experts warn it will face a “headwind” soon without access to 700...
John Bitove’s Feenix Wireless Inc. could have access to prime spectrum at lower prices following the withdrawal of Globalive Wireless Management Corp., owner of Wind Mobile, from the 700 MHz auction that starts Tuesday,...
The long-anticipated 700 MHz spectrum auction begins Tuesday, Jan 14. Among the rules set out by Industry Canada, each of the three incumbents, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., are each only allowed to acquire...
Carriers still finding their way under the CRTC’s wireless code will face the rollout of 700 MHz spectrum, potential new-entrant consolidation and the recalibration of domestic roaming rates in 2014, in what is poised to be a year of change, challenges and opportunities for the industry, analysts said. “We expect 2014 to be a transition year for wireless,” RBC Dominion Securities analyst Drew McReynolds said in a note to clients in late December. He said in a phone interview that the coming year will bring carriers lots to adjust to, including continuing market adjustments...
Mobilicity has received an extension until February for protection from creditors. The new-entrant wireless carrier in bankruptcy protection had asked the Ontario Superior Court to extend its protection from Dec. 20 to Feb. 18. Joel Shaffer, a spokesman from Longview Communications, representing Mobilicity, said in an email the extension was granted...
The government’s move to limit wholesale domestic roaming rates will have little impact on major wireless providers’ bottom lines, experts say, while not all agree on how much the move...
Analysts expect to see fewer speculators participating in Industry Canada's 700 MHz auction following the passage of the deadline for deposits to participate. "Unlike in the 2008 auction, where you might have gotten some...
A merger of Mobilicity and Wind Mobile looks more likely as news reports said Mobilicity delayed a debtholder vote on its recapitalization plan due to acquisition talks with Verizon Communications...
Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., owned by Amsterdam-based VimpelCom Ltd., said it is withdrawing a request to Industry Canada to acquire control of Wind Mobile, though it still wants to work with the government to consolidate its interest in Wind. Wind Mobile, owned by Globalive Wireless Management Corp., announced a plan...
TORONTO—Wind Mobile said it is paying “extreme rents” for wireless tower sharing and called for mandated tower access at regulated rates as the Conservative government is said to be considering stronger roaming and tower sharing rules favouring the new entrants. On a panel Tuesday...
OTTAWA, TORONTO—Industry Canada will block Telus Corp.'s proposed deal for Dave Wireless Inc.’s mobile spectrum, as well as any other proposal from an incumbent to acquire wireless...
Canadian wireless consumers can cancel long-term wireless contracts with mobile phone providers after two years without any cancellation fees, the CRTC said in new wireless code of conduct...
Wind Mobile is appealing to customers of fellow new entrant Mobilicity, operated by Dave Wireless Inc., to “switch to Wind” as Mobilicity waits to hear whether Industry Canada will approve its acquisition by Telus Corp. In a notice on Wind’s website, the company says it will offer “up to $365” in savings to Mobilicity customers who make the switch, with up to $40 off on their first monthly bill, a free Wind SIM card for their phone, and up to $300 in “service credits for add-ons and extras” such as unlimited voice features and Canada-wide calling....
GATINEAU, Que.—Competition for wireless customers in the “bring your own device” market is intensifying as Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. offer discounted plans for customers with their own devices and Rogers Communications Inc. is looking at doing the same, company officials told CRTC commissioners at a hearing...