NEW YORK – As the only GSM wireless operator in Canada, Rogers Wireless will face a dilemma – and opportunity – when new wireless companies launch in this country – likely in 2009.
While Bell Canada and Telus and a few other large North American wireless companies use CDMA-driven networks and handsets, GSM has become the de facto worldwide wireless standard technology, so it is highly probable that any new wireless company that comes to market here will choose to be a GSM player, too.
That means such newbies will use the new mandated roaming rules we reported on last week, to roam only on the Rogers network, similar to how just about all international roaming traffic is done on Rogers, which fattens the company’s revenue line, too.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice announced Wednesday that not only will 40 MHz of the 105 MHz of advanced wireless spectrum be set aside for new wireless companies, but that tower/site sharing will also be made mandatory – as will using the existing companies’ networks by newcomers, where their customers can “roam” on existing wireless nets.
However, while roaming is mandatory, incumbents will negotiate commercial rates to take advantage of all that traffic on their networks. Roaming can happen for five years for new companies that get a regional wireless license while those gaining national licenses can have a decade to roam.
So what was – and still is – being spun as a negative by existing wireless incumbents, Rogers Communications chief financial officer Bill Linton told a conference on Monday that these new decrees could be a net positive for his company.
“(New company customers) will be roaming on our network as the only national GSM provider,” he explained – so even if Rogers Wireless loses some customers, it will still be getting some revenue from the new competitor – while also gaining revenue from lost Bell or Telus customers who switch to a newbie and therefore roam on the Rogers network.
“We think it can absolutely be an economic benefit to us in the future,” added Linton.
– Greg O’Brien
