TORONTO – TNW Wireless is asking the CRTC to compel Bell and Telus to provide it with wholesale roaming agreements in order to further the rollout of its proprietary iPCS technology that it says will offer Canadians a new low cost mobile service.
The company says that Bell and Telus have refused to sign roaming agreements with it, contrary to the Commission’s regulatory framework for wholesale mobile wireless services, because the two big incumbents “believe TNW will allow permanent roaming on their respective networks”. But that is not the case, continued TNW, which has also asked the CRTC to rule that its iPCS Cloud Spectrum technology is compliant with current rules and regulations regarding wireless roaming in Canada.
TNW Wireless provides mobile service using both traditional 4G/LTE and iPCS smartphone-over‐IP (SoIP) technology through an extended home public mobile network coverage using its Wi‐Node technology. It owns spectrum covering the Alaska Highway region in the Yukon and northern British Columbia. Wi‐Node gateway technology permits subscribers to use TNW Wireless’ 850 MHz licensed spectrum service coverage remotely through an Internet Wi‐Fi connection in Canada and around the world. (Click here for previous Cartt.ca coverage on the company and this technology).
When using a TNW Wi‐Node, a subscriber’s phone completely disconnects from the network of any roaming partner, and so TNW asserts that this cannot be considered “roaming” as the device is connected only to the TNW network.
TNW Wireless president Lawry Trevor‐Deutsch dismissed any comparison between its technology and that used by mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Sugar Mobile, which in March was ordered by the CRTC to stop customers from roaming on the Rogers Wireless network.
“… iPCS is a very sophisticated technology and not just an over-the-top application. It was developed to be fully compliant with all current regulations and we believe the Sugar Mobile decision is not relevant in this case”, said Trevor‐Deutsch, in a statement. “This is probably one of the most important applications to come before the CRTC in some time as the outcome will greatly affect the Canadian competitive landscape. As such we expect that there will be significant opposition from the incumbents as mobile services provide them with higher than average profit margins.”
TNW added it believes that iPCS strikes “the perfect balance” between the CRTC’s desire to give the dominant wireless operators the incentive to invest in their networks, and the government’s stated policy of allowing Canadians to benefit from innovation and more competition.
