[NetMapel]

http://shop.windmobile.ca/media/images/logo-wind.png

The Challenger:
Wind Mobile's website (http://www.windmobile.ca/)

The News:
New wireless company gets shot at Canadian market (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091211/globalive_canada_091211/20091211?hub=TopStoriesV2)

Canadians will soon have a fourth wireless company offering services to them after the federal government has allowed Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to start operating immediately.

On Friday morning, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the cabinet has determined that the wireless company meets Canadian ownership requirements under the Industry Canada Act.

Globalive was previously unable to set up shop after the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission turned down its prior attempts, citing the fact that it was owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding.

But because most of the shareholders are Canadian, Clement argues that the Toronto-based Globalive should be considered Canadian. And the Government of Canada, in turn, has decided to vary the CRTC's prior ruling.

In a statement, Clement said Globalive "is a Canadian company and meets Canadian ownership and control requirements under the Telecommunications Act."

"We take this decision very seriously. It is based on the application of these requirements to the facts in this case."

The government says that Canadians own 80 per cent of the voting shares of Globalive and own two-thirds of the voting shares of its holding company. And at least 80 per cent of the wireless company's board of directors are Canadians.

In Toronto, Globalive CEO Anthony Lacavera said the company was "ready for action."

"It's a great day for Canadians in wireless. We could be launching as early as next week," said Lacavera.

Globalive has already hired a staff of 800, about half of whom have already completed their training in Toronto and Calgary. Many have been doing paid volunteer work at food banks, boys and girls groups, literacy groups and the Salvation Army, while they waited on a decision from the government.

When it launches, the company will operate under the Wind Mobile brand.

Wind Mobile CEO Ken Campbell says Globalive won't charge its customers system access or 911 fees. It will not offer Apple's touchscreen iPhone, but it will offer the BlackBerry and other smartphones.

Clement also said the government's goal "has always been greater competition in the telecommunications industry, which leads to lower prices, better service and more choice for consumers and business."

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said the government came down on the side of increased competition, which will challenge the three big players -- Rogers, Bell and Telus -- for their business.

"It's a big win for consumers," said Geist, who also holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce law.

"While some of the big three have started to make some changes, the fact that there will be another player offering up an alternative is bound to shake things up."

Bell spokesperson Jacqueline Michelis said her company was not happy with the decision and would be reviewing it.

"It's disappointing, as we think Globalive quite clearly does not meet the requirements for Canadian control," said spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis. "We'll be taking a close look at the reasoning behind this decision."

Bell Canada parent BCE's stock dropped 2.4 per cent in early trading to $27.75, while Rogers shares fell 3.4 per cent to $32.25 and Telus stock decreased 1.7 per cent to $33.10.

With files from The Canadian Press

The Plans:

Chat:
- $15 per month
- Unlimited WIND to WIND calling across Canada
- Unlimited incoming text
- 100 province-wide calling minutes from any WIND HOME Zone
- 50 Canada/U.S. outgoing texts from any WIND HOME Zone

Always Talk:
- $35 per month
- Unlimited WIND to WIND calling across Canada
- Unlimited all incoming calls while in any WIND Home Zone
- Unlimited incoming text
- Unlimited province-wide calling from any WIND HOME Zone
- 50 Canada/U.S. outgoing texts from any WIND HOME Zone

Always Shout:
- $45 per month
- Unlimited Canada-wide calling from any WIND Home Zone
- Unlimited WIND to WIND calling across Canada
- Unlimited all incoming calls while in any WIND Home Zone
- Unlimited incoming text
- Unlimited province-wide calling from any WIND HOME Zone
- Unlimited incoming/Outgoing Text (CA/US)
- Voicemail

Data Plans:
- Infinite Mobile: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
- Unlimited internet for phones (tethering too)

BlackBerry Data Plans:
- Social BlackBerry: $10 per month
- Unlimited instant messaging, Facebook and MySpace.

- Infinite BlackBerry: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
- Unlimited internet for BlackBerry

Addons:
- Voice: 10c Per Minute with the $15 plan
- SMS: 10c each
- MMS: 20c each
- Voicemail: $5

Long Distance:
- $20 for unlimited North America

Stores should open within a week.

All plans include Caller's ID, Missed Call Alerts, Call Hold, Call Forwarding, Conference Calling and Call Waiting.

The Coverage:

http://www2.windmobile.ca//PublishingImages/Canada_map_legend_05a.png

[SpongeG]

just saw on TV

Egypt to the rescue!

[Distill3d]

Cheaper than I'm paying now...nice!

[youngregina]

So much cheaper than anything out there,. The only thing i wish is that they had cheaper texting plans. But the data plans are 15 dollars cheaper than anywhere else. or from what i know/. WOW.

[kitchener-lrt]

Competition!

[mylesmalley]

If those numbers turn out to be true, sign me up. I'd even be wiling to pay the penalty to get out of my rogers contract early.

[bob1954]

This is what Canada needs, more industries/more competition and hopefully lower or better prices.

[manny_santos]

If that's Bell's attitude, they should take their toys and go home. If there was no issue with foreign ownership, Bell would just find another reason to complain. Instead of complaining they should think about why Canadians aren't subscribing to mobile phone services and then doing something about that.

Bell (and Rogers) should sit down, shut up, and learn to like the new regulatory climate and increased competition. Or, they can go sit in the principal's office.

Maybe soon, Canadian cell phone rates will go down to the point where we're on par with Mexico, where there is a true monopoly on mobile phone service. Even then, that still leaves us aways to reach the United States, and then the coveted level of Europe.

[The Jabroni]

Yeah, if those plans are a real good deal, then this would finally give me the chance to get a Blackberry! :)

[bornagainbiking]

"Globalive was previously unable to set up shop after the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission turned down its prior attempts, citing the fact that it was owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding."

"The government says that Canadians own 80 per cent of the voting shares of Globalive and own two-thirds of the voting shares of its holding company. And at least 80 per cent of the wireless company's board of directors are Canadians."

CRTC has those rules about Canadian ownership but there should be a clause about Canadian jobs.
Ever try and get service after supper and the call is routed overseas.
This is an insult to the rules as it is or was originally BELL CANADA,

I remember when Bell was the only game in town and it was $$$$$$, like it or do without. Then came Cable phone and long distance calling cards. Amazing the rates dropped.
So come on down and welcome Viva la customer service. :banana: :banana:
I am still tied into BELL mobile but at the end of this contract or like mentioned cut near the end and pay the penalty.

[Riise]

Bell (and Rogers) should sit down, shut up, and learn to like the new regulatory climate and increased competition. Or, they can go sit in the principal's office.

Hahaha! The people from WIND should have chanted this (http://www.fanchants.com/football-songs/stoke_city-chants/sit-down-SCFC/) to the people from Bell and Rogers. Actually, I think it would be funnier if the Industry Minister Tony Clement and his staff did it instead.

[Rothwell]

Any word on when AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc. are moving up here?

[craneSpotter]

More competition is good, but I have a sinking feeling that this new competitor will not change the pricing structure of the wireless industry in Canada to any great extent. We are a large country to service with a dispersed population = higher rates than many other countries with smaller land areas and/or higher and more concentrated populations.

Maybe they will offer some one time savings promotions (i.e. waive the activation fee), but the monthly plan rates will likely be similar to what is offered now by the current providers.

WIND, like the others, will have their marketers manipulate the features of their plans to appear to be less at first glance, but they will remove key features from these discount plans that their marketeers know 80% or better of the people want and will get anyway as an add-on at an additional monthly fee (like call display, VM, MMS). They will play around with the amount of anytime minutes, texting limits, data caps, unlimited evening calling start times (huge one, big diff if your unlimited evenings start at 6pm or 9pm!).

They are in it to make as much money as possible. It will be interesting what their marketing gimmick will be, and what group they will target.

[NetMapel]

Just FYI that the Wind Mobile page has been updated to include phones, plans and coverage information. Turns out all the leaked plans are pretty much true.

[Aylmer]

If they get an inexpensive Android phone (less than $200), I will buy it. And I will be happy.

Get to it, Wind!

:)

[jmt18325]

Crappy. No less than I'm paying now. I have a better deal with Telus.

[Aylmer]

Crappy. No less than I'm paying now. I have a better deal with Telus.

Hogwash:

My current Telus plan ~ $35:

- 150 local minutes
- unlimited text/calls to 5 numbers OR 1000 texts OR double minutes
- Call Waiting/Conferencing
- Unlimited 18h-midnight and weekend calling

Wind Always Talk plan - $35:

- Unlimited Province-wide calls from any Home Zone city
- Unlimited International incoming calls/texts
- Unlimited Canada-wide WIND-to-WIND calling
- 50 outgoing pan-continental texts
- Call control (ID, forwarding, conferencing, hold...)

AND NO CONTRACT. BIG SELLING POINT.

:)

[graupner]

will not be available in the 2nd biggest market in Canada ( Montreal and the whole Quebec Province).
Will not be available neither in the Atlantics.

[Canadian Mind]

will not be available in the 2nd biggest market in Canada ( Montreal and the whole Quebec Province).
Will not be available neither in the Atlantics.

I think you need to look at that map again dude.

[1ajs]

looks like they are piggy backing off of bells network?

wonder do these plans require contracts?

[vanman]

This is great news! What I'm most excited about is the $35/month unlimited data plans. Currently Fido/Rogers charge $30/month for a ridiculous 500mb of bandwidth. I was lucky enough to get a 6gb plan only a year ago, for the same cost. I know exactly which company I'll be switching to once my current Fido contract is up.

[mersar]

looks like they are piggy backing off of bells network?


No, they are on their own network (hence why only Calgary and Toronto to start, thats the only part they've built and commissioned so far). They have agreements with the others for roaming outside their areas, but thats it.

[NetMapel]

Checking the FAQ, here's what they said about WIND Home and WIND Away Zone:

At WIND, when you are in HOME Zone many services are available to you for free. To see a map of the HOME Zones, click here.

When you are in a WIND AWAY Zone, some services will cost a bit more:

- Calls to anywhere in Canada or the U.S. (all destinations): 25 cents/minute
- Any calls to you: 25 cents/minute
- Any text messages you receive (from anywhere in the world): free of charge
- To use the Internet on your phone: 10 cents/25 kB

Also, to make sure you don’t accidently rack up a huge bill, we have capped your maximum call length to 120 minutes when you are in an AWAY Zone – we just want you to be sure you know you’re incurring those extra charges.
By the way, I have to say I like how they cap your usage when you're out of their Home Zone so you don't rack up the bills accidentally. I often see news stories about crazy teenagers accidentally racking up a crazy bill by just using too much internet or SMS.

Also they seem to have a more detailed coverage map for Toronto here: http://care.windmobile.ca/Support/StoreLocator/store-locator.aspx

[jmt18325]

Hogwash:



I pay in the $45 - 60 range right now with unlimited LD calls to the numbers of my choice. I frequently travel outside of what will be the home zones even when Winnipeg is included. It would cost me a great deal more on Wind.

I'll either stick with Telus or switch to Rogers next time.

[MolsonExport]

poor rogers. I mean, I just feel for them. rilly, i do. i feel they suck shit.

[Duke-Of-Waterloo]

Really, whose network is Wind piggy-backing off of? There's no way they could have spent the money and time put up enough of their own towers to get their network started this soon, even if it is just Toronto and Calgary. A tower alone costs about $1M to put up and get all the approvals for, and just think how many they would need in Toronto alone to have somewhat good reception city-wide??

[harls]

Apparently they've been ready to go for a while now.. they were just waiting for approval from the feds.. so it could be possible.

[RTA]

^ I somehow doubt that a company would have invested millions of dollars putting up cell towers and related infrastructure without first having that approval secured. That would be a massive risk.

[graupner]

I think you need to look at that map again dude.

they have coverage there, but it will be impossible to suscribe to their plan in Quebec and the atlantics.

The reason: they were outbid by Quebecor for the spectrums in Quebec and parts of the atlantics.

Believe me, I have checked ;)

[mersar]

Really, whose network is Wind piggy-backing off of? There's no way they could have spent the money and time put up enough of their own towers to get their network started this soon, even if it is just Toronto and Calgary. A tower alone costs about $1M to put up and get all the approvals for, and just think how many they would need in Toronto alone to have somewhat good reception city-wide??

Considering they are responsible for a good number of the 100+ new cell towers in Calgary in the past year (and according to reports theres applications in for another 200+ towers for the future already between all the carriers), and according to reports have sunk somewhere in the range of $500M into getting things going. And a tower doesn't cost anywhere near $1M anymore, maybe a decade ago but the 15m towers most of the cell companies are building are way cheaper, probably closer to the $150k-$200k range.

[harls]

^ I somehow doubt that a company would have invested millions of dollars putting up cell towers and related infrastructure without first having that approval secured. That would be a massive risk.

They were issued spectrum licenses in March and I assume they started building their network right after, but then in July the CRTC started a public hearing into their ownership (likely initiated by the 'evil three').

I'm thinking they had too much invested in their networks between March and July, and continued building.. just waiting for Tony Clement to make his announcement. I get the feeling they knew this roadblock would be removed.


It sounded like they already had a lot of infrastructure in place fairly early - this quote is from a press release (http://www.globalive.com/?p=313) dated July 20.

“We are well advanced in our network rollout plans and will continue to work toward our goal to provide Canadians with a more competitive offering,”added Ken Campbell, CEO of Globalive Wireless.

who knows what 'well advanced' means though... plus press releases are usually full of this kind of schlock.

[waterloowarrior]

Wind aims to launch in Edmonton and Ottawa in February, Vancouver coming soon (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/01/13/wind-mobile-edmonton-ottawa.html)

[Proof Sheet]

Wind aims to launch in Edmonton and Ottawa in February, Vancouver coming soon (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/01/13/wind-mobile-edmonton-ottawa.html)

I think the introduction of Wind has benefits for 2 groups of customers:

1) Those people who like the plans and legitimately want to sign up or
2) those who will use the price points of Wind plans as a leverage tool in renegotiating a better deal with your current provider

[Kilgore Trout]

this is one of the things i don't miss about canada. just got a new phone plan the other day: $13 for unlimited data and 1200 voice minutes.

before i left i was paying $30 a month for absolutely bare-bones phone service.

[RTD]

Decent plans, but the only decent coverage this company has is through Alberta and Southern Ontario (surprise surprise). The rest of the country has crappy coverage and pretty much gets the shaft, and I'm not about to end my plan for less coverage and save 5 bucks a month, considering Winnipeg, a city of 3/4 million people, dosen't even have this "WIND". If they expand their territory to include the central and northern Manitoba and Ontario and have Winnipeg as a "WIND", then maybe I'll consider. Otherwise forget it.

[someone123]

Decent plans, but the only decent coverage this company has is through Alberta and Southern Ontario (surprise surprise). The rest of the country has crappy coverage and pretty much gets the shaft, and I'm not about to end my plan for less coverage and save 5 bucks a month, considering Winnipeg, a city of 3/4 million people, dosen't even have this "WIND". If they expand their territory to include the central and northern Manitoba and Ontario and have Winnipeg as a "WIND", then maybe I'll consider. Otherwise forget it.

This is Canada. We're not supposed to have nice things. That's for large, densely developed countries where it's easier to put in lots of infrastructure. You know, countries like the US and, uhh, Sweden and Finland...

[waterloowarrior]

Decent plans, but the only decent coverage this company has is through Alberta and Southern Ontario (surprise surprise). The rest of the country has crappy coverage and pretty much gets the shaft, and I'm not about to end my plan for less coverage and save 5 bucks a month, considering Winnipeg, a city of 3/4 million people, dosen't even have this "WIND". If they expand their territory to include the central and northern Manitoba and Ontario and have Winnipeg as a "WIND", then maybe I'll consider. Otherwise forget it.

They have to start somewhere...if you phase things in you have less upfront expenses and you start to make money to pay back your investment much sooner. Launching a network in every larger city on day one would have been a lot more expensive up front and may have taken years longer to build. You have to figure out where to put the towers, negotiate agreements with landowners, and get them built, installed, tested, set up the retail network etc.

They are using a different 3G frequency than Rogers/Bell so they need new towers. T-Mobile (which uses the same frequency) which has existed for a number of years in the US still doesn't reach all of the top 50 markets there. WIND has 2G roaming coverage (through Rogers for 5 years) in Winnipeg for any Wind subscribers who might be visiting, but they aren't going to start selling there until they have the City covered with their own towers because Rogers charges money for roaming.

They are starting with the five biggest cities in Canada (excluding Quebec where they don't have the spectrum): Toronto and Calgary in the first phase and soon Vancouver, Edmonton, and Ottawa. Even in the cities that have it, they still are installing many more towers and working out any kinks with service. There are still lots of places in the GTA where they won't have WIND yet until later this year (Georgetown, Newmarket/Aurora, northern Brampton/Markham/Oakville).

I'm sure Winnipeg will be one of the next cities, but you can't except a startup carrier that uses an entirely different technology than everyone else to have coverage everywhere right away.

edit: Plus each province has its own factors that may or may not lead a provider to have service there. Rogers has poor coverage in N&L likely due to both low population density and that existing carriers are already servicing the area and it would take too much capital to compete for relatively little gain. In Manitoba companies are competing against a cellphone company that used to be owned by the government.

In many cases providers don't build new towers everywhere but expand service by buying up a company or creating reciprocal agreements (like Bell and Telus have and like MTS and Rogers recently did). The latter isn't always possible due to different technologies or bad relations between companies. WIND can't make any of these agreements with Telus/Rogers/Bell etc because it uses different 3G technology.

[mersar]

And the second new challenger in western Canada (Shaw) announced they are going to start building out their network this year, launching likely in late 2011. No specifics to anything, except they did say they don't need any partners to do the build out, but wouldn't rule it out if it was favourable.

[Yume-sama]

I thought Rogers was Shaw. How come I thought that :P? Isn't Rogers TV kind of... Shaw TV?

[SpongeG]

no they are two different companies

but what happenend years ago was ontario and most of teh east was shaw only and rogers in bc and the west and than they made a switch

i always prefferred rogers over shaw i freaking hate it but there is no other choice for me

[waterloowarrior]

Canada's newest wireless provider to launch in Ottawa
WIND Mobile to bring the 'power of conversation' to the nation's capital: Offers customers contract-free, truly unlimited plans with unparalleled value

TORONTO, March 24 /CNW/ - WIND Mobile, Canada's newest national wireless provider, will host a press conference to launch their mobile service in the Ottawa market on Friday March 26, at 10:30 a.m.

Media are invited to attend.

Interview & Photo Opportunity:

WHO: Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive and WIND Mobile
Ken Campbell, CEO of WIND Mobile

WHEN: Friday, March 26, 2010 - 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Blockbuster (WIND Mobile Kiosk)
183 Rideau Street
Ottawa, ON

WHAT: 10:30 a.m. - Press Conference

[Doug]

Prices will not fall significantly until a well capitalized carrier like AT&T, Vodaphone or T-Mobile enters the market. Prior to the last Federal budget, that would have been illegal. I suspect the main reason that TELUS stock has performed so well over the past month is speculation that one of the big wireless carriers will buy the company.