MILTON, ON – Mobile voice will follow the path long distance telephony took, becoming a commodity soon, Look Communications vice-chairman and CEO Gerald McGoey said today at the company’s annual general meeting.
Shareholders heard the corporation’s assessment of some of the latest domestic and international industry and government developments and what they could mean to Look, a company that has struggled financially and with its identity.
The company is not without its merits, however, as the owners of approximately 100 MHz of contiguous spectrum covering about 18 million people in Ontario and Quebec, a mobile broadcast license, a wireless network across Ontario and Quebec, subscribers and tax assets.
"As was the case with long distance becoming a commodity in the 1990s, mobile voice is becoming a commodity, offered by service providers at continually declining prices", said McGoey in a release. “(T)he majority of wireless growth in the future will come from mobile data services and voice will be just one of many applications. As a result, service providers will need additional spectrum to provide the kind of data and video services currently available in many countries around the world.”
As for the upcoming advanced wireless spectrum auction, McGoey believes a "Consortium of Convenience" will appear where regional mobile service providers will likely have, at a minimum, informal arrangements for fully compatible network designs, shared infrastructure and shared back office services resulting in new entrants having a "regional footprint with a national presence,” he said.
