Rogers to launch Chatr, a new low-end brand to compete with WIND
Forgive us for keeping this really short, but there’s still a lot of information we don’t know. Over the last few days, we’ve been hearing a lot of Canadian birdies singing that Rogers Wireless is planning to launch a new wireless brand in Canada. To be known as Chatr, the carrier is said to have been created solely for the purpose of putting wireless upstarts WIND Mobile and Mobilicity out of business by offering affordable handsets and great rate plans. It is said that the training of employees will begin in earnest as of mid-July, and will be followed shortly with the official launch of the brand in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and Ottawa. We do not have specific information about pricing at the moment as that is still being worked out by the high ups, but we do know for a fact that the handsets Chatr will offer include the Nokia 1661, Nokia 2680 slide, Samsung Gravity and the LG Sapphire. We’ll be back with more as we get it.
UPDATE: We’ve got an inventory screenshot after the jump.
Thanks, X.!
Why cant they just make fido more competitive, instead of launching a whole new brand? lol
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@ Artbungler
agreed, perhaps their business model is so screwed on these 2 (Rogers/ Fido)brands that they have to go this route.
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I think the goal is to actually confuse and do something call “pocket pricing”. If they start to have Fido offer specific only prices where WIND or Mobilicity compete, then it will be too obvious.
But if by a proxy brand they limit their market to the same as WIND / Mobilicity, then they hope to get a away with it.
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The post said Rogers created this brand solely for the purpose of putting Wind out of business. It’s a temporary thing. Is it a good idea?
BTW, it is a boring name.
Razr
Rokr
Rirz
Krzr
………Chatr.
They have to hit early. Clobber the new guys before they get started. Shaw is rumored to be jumping intot he market and they could cause trouble. Bundle you phone, cable internet and mobility all in one.
Why would you want the new guys to be clobered? Canadians are in dire need of more competition. Would you want to pay $30 for 200 minutes or whatever BS rules they have, or unlimited minutes?
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Bundling…. not exactly a new concept. Though it would be another brand in the mix, I’m not sure their ability to bundle will cause any type of upset in the current market.
@Artbungler. They need a new brand and “company” because they want to avoid a mass exodus from their over-price Rogers brand (5000% markup) to Chatr.
This way if you’re a Rogers Wireless customer and you want to switch to Chatr, it’s $25 penalty ($20 for cellular contract, $5 for data contract) a month for the remaining time on your contract, to a maximum of $500 ($400 cellular, $100 data). If you pay them this, then they don’t care if you switch.
them crazy Canadians! (I wonder if I should move to Canada?)
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Do you have a clue what you are saying?
BC’s taxes are only higher than Alberta and Saskatchewan and cheaper than most other provinces whether it be PST+GST or HST its only at 12%. Get your information right please before you comment on one of the best cities to live in on this planet.
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Why doesn’t the Canadian Mobile Oligopoly simply lower their rate plans all-together, the rate WIND charges is what should be charged for mobile services, not the price gouging that occurs at the hands of the Big 3. $8 for caller ID now… WTF
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Because that is not their goal to be cheaper. Look at the trend. The cost of providing the service has been down, the cost for the customers has been up.
Interesting enough.. http://www.chatrwireless.com has a /prelaunch/ redirect in the URL, but its forbidden. Looks like we should expect an announcement soon-ish.
@pejHod
All you have to say it,”no tax” when you buying something in bc, and the PST won’t be added. Bc has laws that allow retailers to not charge PST if the merchandise is for someone under 15, or lives out of province. =) serious!
Anyway, I’ve been with Rogers for 5 years. I was thinking of switching all my business phones over to wind in the coming months but I think I’ll wait to see how this plays out. Ya competition is good, but whatever saves my business the most money wins out everytime.
It’s a no brainer….
1- they wont convert Fido brand to match that of WIND/Mobilicity/Public Mobile becasue that would open the possibility of Rogers losing customers to Fido ( Rogers is big brother of Fido ya know…and big brothers have big pride and egos )
2 – creating the Chat-r brand will add confusion to the increasingly crowded wireless market. It will keep customers from going to the competition…it shows that Rogers is willing to take a hit on ARPU in order to maintain its subscriberbase.
3 – Those who sign up on Chat-r will know that the network will be not be new since Chat-r network is essentially Rogers network.
4 – 40$ unlimited Talk & Text….there is a market of people who only just want those 2 services.
5 – The question consumers have to ask themselves is…which company will have the best chance of surviving past the first 5 years….
6 – dont’ forget…Videotron and Shaw have yet to setup shop….
wind mobiles backer is no slouch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orascom_Telecom_Holding
@ EvilBuddha
Because Wind has no contracts, your point #5 doesn’t stand.
I can be with Wind as long as they continue to be the best option for price and service, and if Robbers manage to drive them out of existence (unlikely – see the recent MobileSyrup poll: http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/07/12/poll-which-canadian-wireless-carrier-is-the-best/ ), then and only then will Wind customers have to be concerned with where to go.
This no-contract thing is what terrifies the Oligopoly, as they have no way to compete on that without eating their main locking/contract/soulselling business model.
A bit of market confusion from yet another rebrand of the big 2 won’t be having Wind quaking yet I think.
I bet they will start their new brand on August 3rd