Tyler Hamilton's story in the Toronto Star about Canada's Competition Bureau investigating Bell Mobility for "wireless access fees" is a good reminder on how the three national wireless carriers - Bell, Telus and Rogers - have a cartel-like control over the market
It was bad enough the Competition Bureau blessed Rogers' $1.4-billion takeover of Microcell Telecommunications, which was the small, but most innovative, wireless carrier in the bunch. Whatever Rogers did to convince the bureau that the level of competition wouldn't be affected was a savvy sales job.
Tyler's piece on system access fees put the spotlight on how the carriers apply this monthly charge and sort of claim it involves costs for spectrum, which is inaccurate. Consumers are also plagued by the lack of local number portabilty, which dampens competition because it's not easy to switch to rival carrier. I'm not sure why the CRTC is so reluctant to push LNP into the market given it has a mandate to encourage competition.
Another puzzling issue is how consumers get to choose wireless devices. The way it works now, the carriers offer you several models, and you pick the one that meets your needs and budget. There is no way, however, to bring your own device to the table. A friend of mine wants to use the Treo 650 but he can't because no carrier in Canada offers it. This means he has to use the Treo 600 or wait it out until the 650 is available.
All in all, Canada's wireless carriers are enjoying a nice honeymoon period - profits, revenue and ARPU are rising; there's no signs of pesky competition (I'd be very surprised if Virgin Canada's launch changes anything); and analysts are happy.
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Mark Evansthe blog - examines the world of telecom and technology from a distinctly Canadian perspective.the person - lives in Toronto, CA with his wife and three children, and works as director of community with PlanetEye Inc. 
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Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
Mark Evans
on Sat 05 Feb 2005 08:05 AM EST | Permanent Link
Comments
Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
bsharwood
on Sat 05 Feb 2005 08:38 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
Financial analysts might be happy. Industry analysts are another story.
Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
ronaldo
on Sun 06 Feb 2005 03:36 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
WLNP will probably be on the CRTC agenda next year, so that might help increase competition a bit ... if enough people complain. But the CRTC should do a better job to encourage competition here.
Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
Anonymous
on Sat 12 Feb 2005 08:15 AM EST | Permanent Link
If we're talking about the GSM version, the trick is get ahold of an "unlocked" Treo 650 (i.e. a cell phone that will accept a SIM card from any carrier). Given that the GSM Treo is quad band, such a phone would work worldwide with local SIMs, such as Rogers.
The problem lies with the carrier that sold the phone. The carrier subsidizes the phone (as part of the sign-up). So, they lock the phone to protect their "investment." In other words, switching carriers within the US wouldn't work with a locked phone. It's not a problem specific to Canada. Here's a page from the palmOne web site that mentions unlocked Treo 650s...albeit briefly. And here's a quick one from TreoCentral regarding the $100 pricing "error" on unlocked Treo 650s. As mentioned in the article, the price hike could have been at the behest of Cingular (to create a large enough difference in price between the locked and unlocked phones). Like you've said in another post, the wireless industry is a "cozy club for the carriers and device makers." Anyway, your friend has a choice (still assuming GSM...I haven't a clue about CDMA): - buy the unlocked phone from PalmOne. Definitely a good idea for travellers as they could utilize local pre-paid SIMs where ever they're travelling (thereby avoiding huge overseas charges). - buy the Rogers version whenever it comes out. Of course it will be locked by Rogers... Hope that helps. Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
naftalim
on Sun 20 Feb 2005 07:39 AM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
How sad and true. Fido was the only innovative company in this space, Rogers has already started to claw back some of the programs offered by Fido. The issue of competition in the telecom space in Canada is problematic across the whole spectrum. I negotiated contracts for bandwidth for a company with locations in the US and Canada and prices in Canada are artificially high. Same goes for products and services offered by large vendors to Canada. US customers can negotiate better terms, in Canada you are told to take it or leave it. The CRTC does a terrible job both in fostering competition as well as limiting the monopolistic practics of the incumbent telcos.
Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
Irina
on Sun 10 Sep 2006 05:30 AM EDT | Permanent Link
LNP/WNP will be implemented in most of Canada by March 2007
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/t1021.htm Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
Bogdan
on Tue 12 Feb 2008 01:37 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link
But while this term is frequently invoked in political discourse surrounding Microsoft, it does not in fact bear the economic definition of a monopoly, as a firm in an industry with only one seller. fire damage restoration
Re: Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
Bogdan
on Mon 24 Mar 2008 01:25 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link
Professional LMR (Land Mobile Radio) and SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio) typically used by business, industrial and Public Safety entities. scarpa lavoro
Re: Re: Re: Canada's Wireless Monopoly
by
stellato
on Fri 18 Apr 2008 10:01 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link
I always loved Monopoly when I was a child. Wireless Monopoly is just the next step ;). weniger schüchtern
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