Wirelessnorth.ca launches with news of the Opening of the Canadian Telco Market.
Shove over Rogers, Bell and Telus.
I’ve been long griping about the Canadian Telcos and their stupid, exorbitant data rates:
[Canadian oligopolistic Telcos] will only voluntarily drop their prices if they thought that they’d make more money by doing so. Their duty is to please their shareholders, not the public, though they could stand to make much more if they can get usage up:
“That’s because […] Rogers/Fido and Bell Mobility do not understand the idea of a mass consumer commerce model. They would rather have 50 pissed off customers and charge them $1000 a month each, rather than have 1000 happier customers and charge them $50 a month each.
I even e-mailed the investor-relations departments of each of Bell, Telus and Rogers:
Dear Rogers Investor Relations:
As an investor and customer at Rogers, I am concerned that the opportunity to serve the Canadian mobile data market is hugely under exploited. Rogers could make a lot more money by serving a larger market at a lower price than fewer customers at a high price.
Like many I know, I turned off the data on my wireless account rather than feel swindled by today’s pricing.
Also, there is a risk that this issue could get the attention of the Canadian Government - regulatory control is not in investor’s interests.
Well, last week (reported here by http://www.wirelessnorth.ca) public protests have finally taken notice of:
In announcing the rules to the upcoming (May 2008) advanced spectrum auction, industry minister Jim Prentice has blasted open the doors to new wireless competition in Canada. Here is a quick overview of the new rules:
- 40 of the 105 available megahertz will be set aside for new entrants
- Incumbents will be required to allow roaming on their networks at reasonable rates (this is crucial as any new entrant may start regionally and take up to a few years to establish full national coverage)
- Incumbents will be required to share towers with new entrants (significantly reducing startup costs and redundant infrastructure)
So, in short, Telcos of Canada, you lost your trusted position through your own actions. Let this be a lesson to the other cartel-like industries. (Indigo-Chapters-Coles: you and your monopolistic pricing could be next).
Lastly, a quick plug for Wireless North.ca - this site is was launched just a few days ago by my friend Thomas Purves. Tom is probably best known for his expose of Canada’s Mobile Rates being worse than 3rd World Countries.
