Canada to get 4th wireless telecom provider.

[rafterman]

Ha ha ha.......a note to all you satisfied Rogers, BCE & Telus customers, the Feds have decided the CRTC had it all wrong six weeks ago when they said "too bad so sad" to Globalive for not meeting Canadian ownership rules and denied an operating license, you should be able to get a "Wind" cell phone in the near future.

Industry Minister Tony Clement annouced this morning that the Government disagrees with the original CRTC ruling and is giving Globalive the greenlight to do business in Canada.

Call me a cynic but this is a nakedly political decision to curry favor with the voters, although I'm certainly happy to see more competition for the strongly entrenched oligopoly which has firmly opposed Globalive all along.

[Tokyo Heights]

That's the greatest good news of the day, that finally the Govt. has realised the problems of monopolised server companies over here in Canada, & is finally allowing another new Server Company to operate over here in Canada, so the present Rip-Offs viz Rogers, Bell & Telus get to taste their own medicine & learn some lesson from their own mis-doings since # of years with their subscribers who were like victims of exhorbitant rates & poor one sided customer care services, & many have voiced their opinion from time to time how they got the ill treatment from our giant Server Companies especially over here in GTA, i congratulate the Govt & CRTC's decision to bring a healthy competition, just support the new server company by changing over to them as soon as they start their operations over here.

[blackrock13]

What? A politician wanting to look good to the electorate by doing something they might like. Never!!

[Medman52]

Call me a cynic but this is a nakedly political decision to curry favor with the voters,

Call it what you will, but competition is good for consumers.

[james t kirk]

They are a foreign owned company - Egypt apparently.

[rafterman]

They are a foreign owned company - Egypt apparently.

Ha ha ha.....not according to the Feds.

[Larry_Fyne]

So... first there was Bell and Cantel (now Rogers). Then Telus. Everyone complained that the companies suck or the customer service is bad. Globalive is the panacia to all of those worrys?

This industry (like all other industries) has a business model and they all function the same way. Look to TERB in the coming months/years to see topics like "How can I switch from Globalive - they suck ?".

I am a cynic.

[ClassAct]

Globalive will gladly accept its position to be the 4th member of the oligopoly.

[Moraff]

That's the greatest good news of the day, that finally the Govt. has realised the problems of monopolised server companies over here in Canada, & is finally allowing another new Server Company to operate over here in Canada, so the present Rip-Offs viz Rogers, Bell & Telus get to taste their own medicine & learn some lesson from their own mis-doings since # of years with their subscribers who were like victims of exhorbitant rates & poor one sided customer care services, & many have voiced their opinion from time to time how they got the ill treatment from our giant Server Companies especially over here in GTA, i congratulate the Govt & CRTC's decision to bring a healthy competition, just support the new server company by changing over to them as soon as they start their operations over here.

You are assuming that the new company will compete with the existing ones and not just join them at the gouging trough.....

[canada-man]

if you sign up for an expensive cell phone plan and use the phone as a P.C you have no right to complain about being gouged and ripped off and if you tell them to sign up for cheaper plans and buy a cheaper cellphone they think you are an alien from outer space. I am waiting till the day when a bunch of idiots sign up for expensive plans and/or Use their phones as P.C and then complain how Globalive is ripping them off.

[Hurricane Hank]

That's the greatest good news of the day, that finally the Govt. has realised the problems of monopolised server companies over here in Canada, & is finally allowing another new Server Company to operate over here in Canada, so the present Rip-Offs viz Rogers, Bell & Telus get to taste their own medicine & learn some lesson from their own mis-doings since # of years with their subscribers who were like victims of exhorbitant rates & poor one sided customer care services, & many have voiced their opinion from time to time how they got the ill treatment from our giant Server Companies especially over here in GTA, i congratulate the Govt & CRTC's decision to bring a healthy competition, just support the new server company by changing over to them as soon as they start their operations over here.

This is my vote for you having won "The longest single sentence post of 2009 at terb." Well done.

[molsoncanadianeh]

So... first there was Bell and Cantel (now Rogers). Then Telus. Everyone complained that the companies suck or the customer service is bad. Globalive is the panacia to all of those worrys?

This industry (like all other industries) has a business model and they all function the same way. Look to TERB in the coming months/years to see topics like "How can I switch from Globalive - they suck ?".

I am a cynic.

Cynic away. Canadian wireless rates are roughly 2x the cost of American wireless rates. This is due to lack of competition that comes from enormously powerful lobbying efforts by Bellus and the late Ted R. More competition will equal lower rates. I realize that most Canadians are socialists at heart and aren't really fond of competition (wireless, cable, banks, grocery, etc.) but apparently some politicians believe that it's a good idea once in a while.

[canada-man]

http://www.comparecellular.com/compare-rate-plans/step3.asp?ProvinceID=3&RegionID=61&CategoryTypeID=4&CategoryID=20

choose a prepaid plan

[james t kirk]

I've never heard of these guys.

My guess is that Ottawa picked a company that is very obscure and would need to invest a ton of money in infrastructure. They will be little if any threat to the existing 3 and Clement will be able to say to Canadians that they are allowing more competition. Blah blah blah.

I don't see them opening it up to Verizon any time soon.

[spacyfoil]

If CRTC cares for Canadians so much here's my question:

Many years ago when Fido was doing well, and it offered Unlimited plans like City Fido, yes thats UNLIMITED, why and I ask WHY did CRTC allow Rogers to eat up Fido????

First thing Rogers did after taking over Fido was to cancel City Fido.

Now was that in the interest of Canadians ??

I am voting Conservative next time, hehe.

[spacyfoil]

I've never heard of these guys.

Captain, Globealive plans to offer $40 Unlimited (incoming/outgoing) anytime, anyday of week, just like FIDO's old City Fido.

[Pencap]

Globalive will gladly accept its position to be the 4th member of the oligopoly.

What about virginmobile?

I like my plan, BTW: 200 min for 20$ a month, no access fee. It works perfect for just a bare-bones cellphone, which is all I need.

[ClassAct]

Globalive isn't some small startup company. They are backed by the DEEP pockets of Eygptian based telecom provider Orascom.

This is not a situation of govenment serving the needs of the public. Tony Clement many months (maybe a year) ago had already all but given the green light for Globalive (1 65% owned FOREIGN company) to bid on spectrum and setup operations here. This, without any public debate about whether Canada should be selling off its publically owned assets (wireless spectrum) to foreign owned entities.

Little did he know that the CRTC (not doubt via intense lobbying from the incument carriers) would go behind his back and turn down Gloablive's application to provide wireless service in Canada. So he goes ahead and overturns the CRTC ruling, telling us (the public ) he is serving our interests in doing so.

The reality is this:
1. Tony Clement = in Globalive's back pocket.
2. CRTC = in the Big 3's (Telus, Rogers, Bell) back pocket.

This is all about political lobbying. The public's interests were never given consideration.

[molsoncanadianeh]

Globalive isn't some small startup company. They are backed by the DEEP pockets of Eygptian based telecom provider Orascom.

This is not a situation of govenment serving the needs of the public. Tony Clement many months (maybe a year) ago had already all but given the green light for Globalive (1 65% owned FOREIGN company) to bid on spectrum and setup operations here. This, without any public debate about whether Canada should be selling off its publically owned assets (wireless spectrum) to foreign owned entities.

Little did he know that the CRTC (not doubt via intense lobbying from the incument carriers) would go behind his back and turn down Gloablive's application to provide wireless service in Canada. So he goes ahead and overturns the CRTC ruling, telling us (the public ) he is serving our interests in doing so.

The reality is this:
1. Tony Clement = in Globalive's back pocket.
2. CRTC = in the Big 3's (Telus, Rogers, Bell) back pocket.

This is all about political lobbying. The public's interests were never given consideration.

CRTC I can see big payoffs and industry positions for key staff in the future. But can Clement really be bought? What could Globalive really do for him?

[nottyboi]

They are a foreign owned company - Egypt apparently.

According to Tony Clement the fact that the company is 65% Egyptian yet is "majority canadian owned" clearly our Industry Minister is as good at math as our Finance Minister. Regardless, I don't really care. Foreign ownership has actually worked AGAINST the strategic interest of Canada i.e to increase cell phone adoption and lower costs. If Globe Alive can help, then welcome aboard. I have gone from buying 4 services from Bell 2 years ago to ZERO!! an my cost has gone from $145/month to $55....

[ClassAct]

CRTC I can see big payoffs and industry positions for key staff in the future. But can Clement really be bought? What could Globalive really do for him?

If Mulroney (Prime Minister) could be bought, then anything is possible.

If the government really had the public's interest at heart, why not draft some sort of anti-trust legislatioin and break up the big 3, like the United States did with AT&T?

[tboy]

What about virginmobile?

I like my plan, BTW: 200 min for 20$ a month, no access fee. It works perfect for just a bare-bones cellphone, which is all I need.

I used virgin for quite a while and while they seem all hip and for the customer, you tend to get ripped off. No carry over minutes, extremely crappy phones, etc etc. I have since gone with fido. One of the things that bugged me to know end was when I purchased my pre-paid top up cards 9 times out of 10 I couldn't top up because the system was down. When I called to see what was up I get/got this happy cool CSR who basically said "Too fucking bad". When I asked: what about calls I have to make and can't because your system is down? Ummm sorry....ain't I cool? lol NOT....The least they could have done is given me a few extra minutes for the time I couldn't call due to THEIR problem.......

As for any new company jumping on the bandwagon in the price gouging, the market won't let that happen. Virgin and fido are about the cheapest now, if any new company offers better phones and even slightly better rates, (which they will have to in order to compete) then the big 3 will start taking hits on marketshare and start reacting.

As I said in another thread: I was at a rogers franchise store and the owner was shitting himself about the competition that's coming.....

[Larry_Fyne]

I used virgin for quite a while and while they seem all hip and for the customer, you tend to get ripped off. ....

Here's your sign.....

[marikiss]

Getting a new provider will make rates drop for a little while at least, they're going to have to undercut the others to gain marketshare. They very well might increase rates later, but still there will be some relief in the short tern, and you never know the egyptians might decide to keep rates lower to benefit from angry canadians sick of the big three.

[blackrock13]

It's going to be a fight, Good Luck, but I hope they have deep pockets because the big boys are just going to drop prices so low and give bells and whistles that a new struggling company cannot complete with for too long and eventually blow their bank account. The big bug that I can't stand is the system access fee that is just a grab, but even if it was eliminated it would resurface under another title until the losses were minimized, so the ultimate change will be small.

On a global scale, Rogers and company are small players and they know it. They'd could be swallowed up by a huge company with corresponding bank accounts, I believe there are 3 companies with subscribers numbering in the 100 of millions, at least 100x bigger than Rogers or Bell and the locals don't want to get into a price war with any of them.

[tboy]

Not sure if it is the same company but I was in Blockbuster today and Wind Cellular is setting up a Kiosk and will be offerring cellular service within the next week or so.......

Here it is folks, hopefully the end is near for our rip off rates.......

[JohnLarue]

They are a foreign owned company - Egypt apparently.


http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/669206
Globalive's current corporate structure gives Orascom a 65 per cent economic interest, but less than one-third of its voting shares.

There is a big difference between debt and equity financing when it comes to controlling the company
Mind you, one-third is well in excess of the 20% limit for foreign ownership of a telco.

The current Trio are not consumer friendly, so I welcome more competition.

[rafterman]

Not sure if it is the same company but I was in Blockbuster today and Wind Cellular is setting up a Kiosk and will be offerring cellular service within the next week or so.......

Here it is folks, hopefully the end is near for our rip off rates.......

I'm sure it is them. They already have a bunch of CSR's hired and the plan before the "hiccup" with the ruling from the CRTC was to be up and running by Christmas.

....good luck to them.

[djk]

I've never heard of these guys.

My guess is that Ottawa picked a company that is very obscure and would need to invest a ton of money in infrastructure. They will be little if any threat to the existing 3 and Clement will be able to say to Canadians that they are allowing more competition. Blah blah blah.

I don't see them opening it up to Verizon any time soon.

Globalive (also known as Yak) has the backing of WiND mobile which is a huge player in Europe, Middle East and Asia. Wind is also known as Orascom.

WiND has loaned them their name and their founder made a significant investment in the venture (up to $700 million). This is what caused the original fuss with the CRTC as WiND's founder is an Egyptian native.

[spacyfoil]

So the day Globalive was given the green light, almost all Canadian networks made it THE main story.

I kept watching CityTV, but Oh man, No mention at all???? Finally I did some digging, guess who owns CityTV, no other than Mr. Rogers :D Yes their website did mention it, but main headline on CityTV that day was Ashely Madison, lol.

Anyways, here's the leaked rates for WIND:

Chat: $15 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited incoming text
100 province-wide voice minutes
50 text messages

Always Talk: $35 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited province-wide calling
Unlimited incoming text
50 outgoing text messages

Always Shout: $45 per month
Unlimited Canada-wide calling
Unlimited incoming /outgoing text messages
Voicemail

[eldoguy]

Not to mention, they will be offering Blackberrys!

[drlove]

What about virginmobile?

I like my plan, BTW: 200 min for 20$ a month, no access fee. It works perfect for just a bare-bones cellphone, which is all I need.

I get 250 minutes weekdays, evenings and weekends free, and free caller ID all for $20 a month! :D

[Sanders1]

Not to mention, they will be offering Blackberrys!

I wish they didn't use the 1700mhz AWS frequency. Sure, they'll be able to offer the Bold 9700, but they could have really put the screws to the big three if their network used the same hsdpa frequencies.

Lack of IPhone support will hurt them. Unfortunately, this means that people will simply use Wind's pricing as leverage against the big three rather than actually switching. I remain skeptical as to whether Apple will ever release a phone that works with the 1700mhz AWS but we'll see.

[tboy]

I wish they didn't use the 1700mhz AWS frequency. Sure, they'll be able to offer the Bold 9700, but they could have really put the screws to the big three if their network used the same hsdpa frequencies.

Lack of IPhone support will hurt them. Unfortunately, this means that people will simply use Wind's pricing as leverage against the big three rather than actually switching. I remain skeptical as to whether Apple will ever release a phone that works with the 1700mhz AWS but we'll see.

According to the Wind CSR at the Kiosk they'll be offerring the Iphone next month........

[tboy]

I get 250 minutes weekdays, evenings and weekends free, and free caller ID all for $20 a month! :D

and what about the 911 fee, the SAF, the debt recoup fee, etc?

And your evenings and weekends, does it start at 9 7 or 5?

and text messages, none?

[Tokyo Heights]

Hope and pray the new player plays its cards well from the beginning by gaining the confidence of its initial One Hundred Thousand Customers as its "FOUNDER MEMBERS"
& off them best package for voic, talk, chat, and data plans, plus introduce an economical package for sending International Text/SMS Messages maximum @ 0.5cents per text message and not charge like the 3-Rip-Off's of Canada 0.25~0.35 Cents per International Text/SMS Messages, whereas these day's some companies are offering International Voice Packages to far off South Asian Countries upto 0.5cents per minute talk time, whereas our Great Champions of Canada are charging 0.25~0.35 cents per single international text message of 140 to 160 characters to their hard pressed cutomers who are totally fed-up with them. Definitely my next vote goes to Conservatives who are bold enough to introduce a new server company into Canadian Market, whereas Liberals simply failed to do anything inspite of so much of bickering from the general public when they were in power, hope some changes are also immenent in CRTC to serve the public intrest and not the intrest of its masters Rogers, Bell & Telus, in future if CRTC fails to control these giants & white elephants, then the Govt. should immediately fire the present set-up of such officials who are not keeping the public intrest as foremost. Goodluck and best wishes to our Finance Minister, and the new entrant into Canadian Telecommunication market, no worries to subcribers we can live with Blackberry& other Smartphones but we need cheaper packages which are at par with other countries of the world.

[tboy]

Hey Tok...let me introduce you to this very important thing.......it's called a

PERIOD

this is it======> .

It makes reading your posts 1,000 times easier to read. Plus, ever heard of this thing called a PARAGRAPH????

:D

BTW: I think you're dreaming if you think anyone will offer international text messages at 1/2 a cent per message..........but it is good to have a dream, no harm in that!

[spacyfoil]

Hey Tok...let me introduce you to this very important thing.......it's called a PERIOD this is it======> .


ROTFL,

tboy, easy on Tok, he's just happy, lol.

Although Tok seriously whats up tonite?

I am with ya brother! Tired of being done by big three. I write so much against them, I am surprised I still have internet access.

Peace.

[kih]

What about virginmobile?

I like my plan, BTW: 200 min for 20$ a month, no access fee. It works perfect for just a bare-bones cellphone, which is all I need.

Virginmobile has some sort of agreement to use Bell's infastructure.

[lavameltme]

Ha ha ha.......a note to all you satisfied Rogers, BCE & Telus customers, the Feds have decided the CRTC had it all wrong six weeks ago when they said "too bad so sad" to Globalive for not meeting Canadian ownership rules and denied an operating license, you should be able to get a "Wind" cell phone in the near future.

Industry Minister Tony Clement annouced this morning that the Government disagrees with the original CRTC ruling and is giving Globalive the greenlight to do business in Canada.

Call me a cynic but this is a nakedly political decision to curry favor with the voters, although I'm certainly happy to see more competition for the strongly entrenched oligopoly which has firmly opposed Globalive all along.


They Just bought my vote. About time a politician did something to help me pay my taxes