WHILE THE LOBBYING intensifies here as everyone awaits word on whether Verizon will venture north in advance of the 700 MHz spectrum auction, the American cellco is doing lobbying of its own, Stateside, as the industry there prepares for a spectrum auction in the 600 MHz band.
A research report which is part of the U.S. wireless industry’s lobbying efforts actually casts doubt on our own government’s assertion it is bringing more competition to the Canadian wireless market with restrictive auction rules.
Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan noted in a report to clients what could be…
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A WACKY LONG WEEKEND of published and advertised wireless truths, half-truths, information and disinformation has likely moved the public opinion needle on Verizon’s potential entry into Canada not at all.
With the federal government seeming to have said its final word on the matter last week – noting it will stick by the screwy rules it has set up (rather than full, open, foreign investment in Canadian telecom) to govern the Canadian wireless market – the incumbent wireless companies, as well as their supporters and detractors, went into full froth over the August Civic Holiday weekend.
On…
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IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE all-hands on deck round of public pleading from our big wireless companies will not shake our meddlesome federal government from its wireless policy path. After all, there are no votes in it for Ottawa to alter course – and potentially big, big money in simply plowing ahead.
As everyone knows, the most recent Canadian spectrum auction in 2008 brought five new wireless companies to life in Wind Mobile, Public Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron Wireless and EastLink Wireless. Regulatory intervention set aside some spectrum then which was purchased more cheaply than that which…
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TORONTO, MONTREAL, and VANCOUVER – Industry Minister James Moore made it official yesterday that Ottawa was not going to budge on its wireless policy framework, but that hasn’t put an end to the public lobbying campaign mounted by Canada’s Big Three incumbents, who issued new pleas today calling on the federal government to close what they say are loopholes that give preferential treatment to major US wireless carriers.
Bell, Rogers, and Telus each issued press releases Thursday urging Ottawa to reconsider the wireless rules that currently would allow a U.S. carrier like…
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WATERLOO, ON – BlackBerry announced Tuesday that its latest BB 10 smartphone, the BlackBerry Q5, will be available in Canada on August 13.
First announced at BlackBerry’s annual conference in May, LINK LINK LOINK the new Q5 features a re-engineered QWERTY keyboard for faster and more accurate typing.
Available in black or red, the Q5 features a dual core 1.2GHz processor, a 3.1-inch touchscreen, 8GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, and 4G/LTE network support.
The…
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TORONTO – While recent events, including the possible entry of US behemoth Verizon into Canada and Monday’s cabinet shuffle, have left many in the investment community wondering how these will affect the regulatory landscape, the telecom sector won’t see an impact on the bottom line just yet.
Financial results for the second quarter of 2013 will not reflect any of these regulatory concerns, says BMO Capital Markets Second analyst Tim Casey.
“We expect Verizon will continue to quietly negotiate with the owners of the existing new entrants – Wind and Mobilicity – with…
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TORONTO – With Wednesday’s announcement that Mobilicity has entered into talks with new potential buyers, it’s a likely possibility that any offer for the struggling carrier would be considerably lower than the $380 million Telus was willing to pay to acquire Mobilicity before that deal was rejected by the federal government.
That’s a scenario that Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan had suggested may happen back in May. Of today’s news, Fan told Cartt.ca in an email that if there is a deal it is likely not as ideal, as the price may be “too low…
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BURNABY, BC and TORONTO – Talks of a merger began Wednesday between the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) and the United Steelworkers (USW).
“I am pleased that our union’s local leaders from across Canada have voted for us to work toward a merger with the USW that will improve the working lives of our members and their families,” said TWU national president Lee Riggs in a joint statement from the two unions.
A tentative merger agreement between the two unions, who have had a formal strategic alliance since 2010, would focus on mutual commitments to bargaining, education,…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity has once again postponed its debtholder vote on its recapitalization plan to July 10.
This is the second time the vote has been postponed from its original June 27 date.
Mobilicity president and COO Stewart Lyons said in a statement the vote was rescheduled to allow the board to consider “potential alternatives” for the company.
Last month, the Globe and Mail reported that the company was in acquisition talks with Verizon. The American telco has also put forward a $700 million bid for Wind Canada. Mobilicity has been seeking another buyer…
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TORONTO – A group of Canadian telcos, including Rogers, Bell, and Telus, have filed a court motion seeking leave to appeal from certain sections of the CRTC’s wireless code they say are unclear about when the code actually comes into effect.
In a motion filed by the Big Three, along with MTS Inc., NorthernTel, SaskTel, Télébec, and Société en Commandite, the companies contend that the CRTC overstepped its jurisdiction by attempting to make the code “retrospectively applicable” to wireless contracts that were created before the code comes into effect on December 2, 2013.
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