Rogers, Bell willing to buy WIND’s spectrum
While Canadian carrier hopeful WIND might not be launching any time soon thanks to its foreign ownership structure, outsiders are already drooling at the prospect of buying up all of WIND’s spectrum in the event that it doesn’t launch. WIND CEO Ken Campbell dismissed such things as “media speculation” during our interview with him and repeated ad nauseam that WIND is currently weighing its options, but now more of its would be competitors are speaking up on what might be. Said Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed on Friday: “Spectrum is a very valuable asset. Rogers for sure would be interested in picking it up.” Snapping up all of WIND’s spectrum wouldn’t be cheap considering it was originally purchased from Industry Canada in 2008 at a cost of $442.1 million Canadian ($420.4 million USD), but the possibility that several of the Big Three would buy it in parcels if the launch never happens remains relatively high. After all, Bell has previously said it would be willing to purchase half of WIND’s spectrum at $0.50 on the dollar.
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Wind should challenge the CRTC in court. The government can’t play both sides here, on the one hand saying that Wind is Canadian enough to buy the spectrum, but saying they’re not Canadian enough to use it on the other. I want competition and I refuse to have the CRTC scuttle it at the behest of the incumbents, and I’m writing my MP.
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1) The CRTC is independent of Government of Canada.
2) It was Industry Canada that said WIND was “Canadian enough”, but that was pursuant to the Radiocommunications Act.
3) The CRTC found that WIND was not “Canadian enough” under the Telecommunications Act.
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Perhaps Wind should enlist the assistance of Industry Canada to be paired up with willing Canadian equity partners.
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As you said yourself Industry Canada found them to be Canadian enough under the Telecommunications Act to bid for spectrum.
Grounds enough to challenge the CRTC’s ruling in court if you ask me. I hope Wind does too.
Better still would be abolishing the ownership rules entirely. If the big three can’t compete, too bad. They don’t deserve protection when they use it to fleece Canadian consumers and avoid anything that resembles competition, wireless or wired. Or are you now going to defend the fact that Canadians pay the 3rd highest cellular rates in the world? Higher even than other industrialized countries with lower population densities.
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The one-way street we’re on now is what has left us with three telecom giants that don’t need to care.
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I love that Chucky just comes back to downvote our responses, but offers no justification of the high rates we pay. I wonder if he works for Rogers or Telus?
Of course I could be wrong about his motivations……maybe he’s a shareholder!
Promise: If I ever win the lottery I’m going to start up a wireless company and bury the BIG THREE.
They’re scared of competition because they know the second a viable alternative presents itself, they’re finished.
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Uh oh. Bad news bears.
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I wonder why WIND is being held up over this, that’s terrible!
And this is only one of the many drastic dives we’ve taken in the last few years. Any spots in America open? We seem to be going through our “Bush-era”.
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It’s the Canadian way. Stay rooted in mediocrity. This is not just in wireless. Practices across various industries are needlessly bureaucratic and inefficient. Car pricing, cable (UBB etc), clothing prices etc etc…
FUCK NO!
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If either Rogers, or Bell, or Telus for that matter, is allowed to buy Wind I guarantee we will be seeing 5 year contracts, $10 for Call Display, $50 Value Pack bundles, etc. When they spend that much money it wont be from their pocket but it will be from my pocket, your pocket, and every Canadian who dont speak up against this.
Something makes me feel this was the big three’s plan all along. Hence not making a big fuss about anything when the spectrum was first auctioned. They truely are evil lol
Fyi Fido is currently selling the Motorola W233 for $65 Cad meanwhile BestBuy in the US is selling it for $7.99 US (black Friday). Way to go canadian competition.
Not to mention pretty much all smart phones are priced the same on a 2 year contract and ours on a 3 year lol
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WIND will have no contracts. That being said, no they wont be lol
One must fight corruption with corruption in order to beat the big 3.
How much do you want to bet that some CRTC members (or any other important industry members) have Olympic gold medal hockey tickets courtesy of Bell, Rogers, and Telus?
Until then, bend over and take it.
If half of WINDs commitments were met, they would blow Rogers and Bell out of some of Canadas key markets.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I reckon there’s a high degree of likelihood that a backroom deal has been made with the CRTC (whose primary customers in all media are Rogers and Bell) to stop WIND moving forward or at least delay their implementation.
All the main carriers have completely incomprehensible plans, change rates with limited notice, have the weirdest and most complex pricing you’ve ever seen, and have not so good customer service.
WIND must have got them running scared. Most Canadians at best tolerate their lousy cell phone service. Many I know will drop their current carriers ASAP if there’s a decent alternative.