The Simon Tonekham Statesman

After the announcement that the iPhone is finally coming to Canada, many consumers began to start protesting against the plans that Rogers and Fido have implemented. There was also a speculation that if you suddenly want to break out of your iPhone for a number of time, you will be charge a maximum of $1100CDN. Details on this can be founded at this link, although the information has been corrected after the blog posting have been issued. Many people decided to protest against Rogers and Fido’s final plan structure, while others decided to go to the extreme by signing a petition located at www.ruinediphone.com (which at this time of blog posting, closed down without notice but still active). One blogger decided to post his/her views about the iPhone petition and telling the word to Mr. Ted Rogers and Sir Steve Jobs about the unfair and unconstitutional pricing.

Currently, there is no “real” competition from among many wireless carriers in Canada unlike the U.S or A. There are three dominant players in the Canadian Wireless Market: Rogers, Telus and Bell. There are some other providers out there, but the majority of these so-called MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) run on one of the big players’ networks. For example Virgin Mobile and Solo Mobile run on Bell Mobility’s network, while Koodo runs on Telus’ network. An auction is currently underway to see who will the next national carrier in the wireless industry.

Although no official details are not set up after the auction has ended, we can say that the new entrants will include the following:

• Globalive (known for it’s Yak brand) encompasses on building a nationwide network.
• Shaw will be restricted to Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg)
• Quebecor will be restricted in La Belle Province (that’s the nickname for Quebec, FYI)
• Bragg Communications (aka Eastlink) will operate in Atlantic Canada
• Data AV (or DAVE) will be in the urban-centric chokehold in Canada.

As for the big three players, Bell, Telus and Rogers are the majority of holding the big licences. Rogers scored 52 licences worth $929 Million CDN, Bell holds at 54 licences worth $719 Million CDN and Telus holds 56 licences worth $855.3 Million CDN. It’s highly likely that Bell and Telus will team up to build and deploy a 3G HSPA/GSM network all across Canada, eventually marking the demise of CDMA – the commonly used cell phone technology in North America.

As for the iPhone, there are some rumours that the iPhone will trim cell phone rates in half. We’ll just have to wait and see. What if Paul Gigliotti and Dave Thomson from the now-defunct band called “Wave” were to shoot for an ad campaign for Data AV? I can imagine if my friends Tarin, Laura and Jenny were to see those guys in a TV commercial and they want to get the phones supplied by DAVE. The rest is up to them.

References:

“Canadians Blast iPhone Pricing.” PCWorld.com. 02 July 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/147839/canadians_blast_iphone_pricing.html>

“AT&T Contract Free iPhone – Possible Relief for Canadians.” GizmoRepublic.com. 02 July 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://www.gizmorepublic.com/portable/contract-fee-iphone-6210>

“iPhone Canada plans to match AT&T?.” Electronista.com. 18 June 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/06/18/iphone.3g.canada.plan.leak/>

“iPhone 3G will need ‘unbricking’ when purchased?.” crave.cnet.com. 30 June 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9980676-1.html>

“Wireless data rates could fall after iPhone launch.” Toronto Star. 16 June 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/444119>

“SpectrumWatch: Round 171 – Auction likely to end in next 48 hours.” National Post. 02 July 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/07/02/spectrumwatch-round-171-auction-likely-to-end-in-next-48-hours.aspx>

“iPhone will cost about $90 a month in Canada, Web site claims.” National Post. 19 June 2008. 02 July 2008. <http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/06/19/iphone-will-cost-about-90-a-month-in-canada-web-site-claims.aspx>