By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Quebecor said Thursday it is “upgrading the telecom industry” by providing enhancements and a new plan on its newly-acquired Freedom Mobile brand intended to undercut the incumbents ahead of the promotional back-to-school and holiday seasons.
Freedom announced the launch of a new 5G uncapped data plan of 50 GB covering Canada, the United States and Mexico for $65. (Speeds are throttled after a user exceeds their monthly data allotment.)
The company also has a $45-offer for 30 GB of data with unlimited talk and text across the country and 20 GB and 3 GB 4G/LTE options starting at $39 and $29, respectively.
The telecom recently announced a $50-offer for 40 GB of data with unlimited talk and text across Canada and the U.S., which sits below the price of some of the incumbent offers that include more data.
Freedom announced Monday that existing customers will be able to roam across Canada where it hasn’t yet expanded its network at no additional cost, and that new and existing customers on the $45 and higher priced plans will have early access to the 5G network at no additional cost.
It also said customers can get the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G phone on a two-year 5G plan at $0, but supply is limited.
Freedom’s 5G network now covers over 12 million Canadians in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver metropolitan areas with select cities in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, the telecom announced.
Quebecor is pitching these plans as undercutting its competition, claiming its plans are 40 per cent below the February 10 benchmark plans of the incumbents.
“Today, Freedom is exceeding its promise to customers with some of the most competitive wireless plans ever seen in Canada, backed by a top-notch 5G network,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said in a press release.
“With this unprecedented offering and the roll-out of major enhancements to its wireless network, Freedom upgrades the telecom industry and brings Canadians high-quality mobile plans to use in more places, at an affordable price.”
After closing its acquisition of Freedom in early April, Quebecor said it is keeping true to its promises to regulators and helping drive down industry prices.
“Since April 2023, Freedom has already lowered the competition’s prices by more than 30% across Canada,” it said, using the benchmark plans as a reference.
Rogers announced in May that it was lowering its price per gig by doubling the data allotment on its $85 5G plan to 50 GB. It is also providing its starter 5G plan for 35 per cent cheaper than its previous 5G entry plan and migrating all customers to its 5G network at no additional charge.
Freedom said it has met and exceeded certain promises to the government, including offering 5G plans with national roaming at 20 per cent below the benchmark plans by April 2025, offering non-5G plans at least 20 per cent below the benchmark, maintaining pricing on comparable plans to its Videotron subsidiary in Quebec, maintaining pricing for current customers and adding 10 per cent more local data to each existing plan.
It also said it is ahead of schedule on the upgrade to its infrastructure to enable 90 per cent of current customers to access 5G by April 2025.
Freedom crystalizing its mobile wireless plans, now with the close of the Rogers-Shaw transaction behind the industry, makes the traditionally competitive back-to-school and holiday seasons especially interesting this year.
It was Freedom under Shaw in the fall of 2017 that instigated a surge in data offered by carriers when it launched its 10 GB of data for $50, called Big Gig.
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic remarked recently that some of the new data pricing announced in the market is already what Canadians are paying for services because most of the buying concentration happens during the promotional periods.
Photo of Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau
