Sometimes you just want to root for the underdog. And for the last couple of months Globalive has been that underdog.
Globalive of course faced the prospect of not being able to launch their Wind Mobile cellular brand in Canada, and now that Industry Minister Tony Clement has decided to overturn the CRTC decision this will clear the way for Globalive’s launch.
The Government of Canada variance is effective immediately and provides a clear path for Wind Mobile to enter the Canadian wireless market and to become Canada’s first national wireless alternative in over a decade.
“This is a new day for wireless in Canada. This holiday season we will start to provide Canadians with the competitive choice that they want and deserve,” said Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive and WIND Mobile. “We thank the Government of Canada for a decision that will serve the best interests of Canadian consumers.”
Of course it’s not completely smooth sailing for Globalive – they will of course face some stiff competition from the other national incumbent carriers – Bell, Telus, and Rogers. And then there are still 2 other carriers getting ready to launch as well – Public Mobile, and Dave Wireless.
Wind Mobile is seen as the most threatening of the 3 new carriers entering the market (not including Videotron in Quebec) and the company with the greatest prospects of success. They are basically ready to go. They have 3 data centers, 475 cell sites and kiosks inside the Blockbuster stores. Although they haven’t made a public announcement on their official launch date it is expected that they will be ready to sell very shortly (like days).
Of the other 2 new competitors, Public Mobile has started the marketing machine, promotion, blog, and public awareness campaign. Meanwhile, Dave Wireless seems to be asleep, not reporting much news, their web site and brand is quite boring – it’s almost like they are getting left behind.
Good luck Globalive. It’s about time we had some new competition in the Canadian cellular marketplace.
Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed
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I agree that the competition is good, but the way this has been handled only leads to confusiion, and actually makes it unfair to all the players. Telemanagement has analysis and commentary here:
http://tele-management.ca/content/10074-crtc_a_lame_duck_after_clement_over_rules_globalive_decision
My question is, “Has our government stipulated anywhere that Wind cannot be bought out by Telus, Rogers or Bell or their affliates in the future?”