WIND Mobile Financier Regrets Entering ‘Protected’ Canadian Mobile Market

[SebC]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

Enjoy your Wind phone while it lasts.

As long as my plan gets honored by whichever big three company buys Wind out, I'll be happy.

[HPLovecraft]

I run on Mobilicity. Similar to Wind, with unlimited data, long distance in North America, etc., all for $40 bucks. Limited coverage right now, but, man, I'd hate to be spending some of the Rogers costs (on a contract, to boot). Love my Mobilicity.

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by SebC

As long as my plan gets honored by whichever big three company buys Wind out, I'll be happy.

And that is great for you and everyone else who beat the buzzer. What do you do in three years?

The issue of a lack of real competition will exist when Wind/Mobilicity leave and what you should be doing is also letting your local MP know your thoughts in addition to telling everyone how great Wind is.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

And that is great for you and everyone else who beat the buzzer. What do you do in three years?

The issue of a lack of real competition will exist when Wind/Mobilicity leave and what you should be doing is also letting your local MP know your thoughts in addition to telling everyone how great Wind is.

Wind is good, I like it more then Telus, Rogers or Bell, but they aren't great. I think it's better to be honest about Wind, then say they are great.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

And that is great for you and everyone else who beat the buzzer. What do you do in three years?

The issue of a lack of real competition will exist when Wind/Mobilicity leave and what you should be doing is also letting your local MP know your thoughts in addition to telling everyone how great Wind is.

In three years, it will be cheaper for me to keep my plan than buy a new phone. This is actually the ideal scenario for me, because it means I get better network coverage. Having said that, I don't think the big three would actually buy Wind and honour their deals.

The way I see it though, those who weren't early adopters are going to miss out either way. If Wind can expand their network and offer a product comparable to the big three, they won't need to discount as heavily.

And you seem to have a much higher opionion of my MP than I do.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

Enjoy your Wind phone while it lasts. This article from today's Globe and Mail.

Essentially, long term prospects don't look so good for Wind and Mobilicity. Blame the oligopoly and foreign ownership rules which is starving much needed capital to survive.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2334878/

I think that the government has made a pretty sizable commitment to opening up the market. Foreign ownership rules have already been discussed (they'll be ignored/changed if necessary) and I suspect that we will see a good chunk of spectrum made unavailable to the Big Three in the next auction.

I actually foresee Wind buying Mobilicity in the next 18 months. It may still as Wind or be re-branded, but I doubt that the new entrants are going to simply die off due to poor funding.

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

I think that the government has made a pretty sizable commitment to opening up the market. Foreign ownership rules have already been discussed (they'll be ignored/changed if necessary) and I suspect that we will see a good chunk of spectrum made unavailable to the Big Three in the next auction.

...but I doubt that the new entrants are going to simply die off due to poor funding.

Not if the OP is to believed. The foreign investor has already said he wants out and that is with spectrum set aside for the smaller players.

Investing in Canada seems unnecessarily byzantine. They are probably very good reasons to do it, to be sure, but protecting Canadian companies is always at the expense of the Canadian consumer.

And yes, Wind is good but not great.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

Not if the OP is to believed. The foreign investor has already said he wants out and that is with spectrum set aside for the smaller players.

Sawaris has threatened to boycott the next wireless spectrum bidding unless the federal government sets aside some licenses for new entrants, and has started to discourage others from investing in Canada

Maybe I am mis-reading...

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Maybe I am mis-reading...

Yeah, you're right that it hasn't been set aside. I think I was focused on this tidbit from OP article:

[Gov't]......as part of an “integrated approach.” It has yet to announce a policy on the auction of wireless licences expected to take place in 2012.

[yads]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

Not if the OP is to believed. The foreign investor has already said he wants out and that is with spectrum set aside for the smaller players.

Investing in Canada seems unnecessarily byzantine. They are probably very good reasons to do it, to be sure, but protecting Canadian companies is always at the expense of the Canadian consumer.

And yes, Wind is good but not great.

I think this protectionism is exactly why Canadian business has traditionally lagged behind the rest of the world in innovation. I think the Conservatives are working towards improving this though.

As for Wind, my wife gets spotty coverage around our home, but she would have to do a ton of roaming in order to be worse than breakeven.

[Suave]

Looks like Wind and the other new players got their wish.

The federal government is opening the door to more foreign ownership of wireless companies, a move that would allow non-Canadians to own 100 per cent of firms with a market share of 10 per cent or less.

The government will be applying caps in the upcoming spectrum auctions to guarantee that both new wireless competitors and incumbent carriers have access to the spectrum up for auction.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle2369109/

[MrMastodonFarm]

Awesome.

[Azure]

Not enough, IMO....but it should help.

They should have set aside spectrum for Wind and the other smaller carriers. But I suppose this way it might raise more money.

[OilKiller]

Yeah, it's not enough, but it's a start. Hopefully it's a start of things to come for more competition in just about everything in Canada.

[MrMastodonFarm]

WIND Mobile CEO Tony Lacavera

WIND Mobile CEO Tony Lacavera was quoted in several publications that they would boycott the spectrum and not bid. In a press release this morning Lacavera stated that “The announcement creates the illusion that the government has gone all-in to create a competitive wireless landscape, when they’ve only done half the job. Delivering on foreign ownership is only half of the equation. We’ve spent countless months telling the government that caps will destroy our ability to compete with the incumbents in the next auction, thereby crippling wireless competition in Canada. It’s a simple formula, without the ability to acquire 10 MHz, NO new entrant can build out LTE, which means NO new entrant can viably compete in the long term. This is a smoke and mirrors announcement designed to distract from the fact that they’ve sided with the incumbents at the expense of Canadians.”

[Azure]

Yeah, pretty much like I figured. Its a step in the right direction but there is still a while to go.

[OldDutch]

Wind up for Sale, so who of the Big 3 does it go to?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...le-report.html

Hope Feds step in and say none of the Big 3 can bid on Wind, but that maybe wishful thinking.

[temple5]

Anyone have the prices of mobile phone packages and coverage in Australia?

Its really the only country we should be compared to for pricing and coverage.

Comparing us to Europe is just ridiculous.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Brutal, hopefully this doesn't mean the end soon. If worse come to worse I just hope I can keep my plan.

[worth]

Man...i'm paying $30 for what I paid $70 with Fido. Long live Wind.