New wireless competition in Canada is great news for consumers
Today the federal government of Canada announced that they are opening up the wireless communications industry in May of 2008 by making spectrum available specifically for newcomers to break up the Oligopoly of Bell, Telus, and Rogers in Canada.
As reported by the Toronto Star today, the move is expected to increase competition in Canada to create better pricing, more options and better service. Canadians are already paying as much as 33% more for similar data plans in the U.S. for average users and up to 56% more for heavy users. Mobile usage in Canada is among the lowest in the developed world at around 58% - compared to some European countries that are close to 100%. A fourth major carrier is bound to drive down prices and drive up adoption in Canada.
This is great news for consumers. This is also great news for marketers. Better pricing means marketers can boldly go beyond SMS campaigns and leverage the full potential of the mobile web and mobile applications which rely on the mobile web for data to create a rich experience on mobile devices. Yahoo for example has a great downloadable mobile product called Yahoo! Go which provides a rich mobile internet experience…but can result in an outrageous bill from your carrier if you don’t already have a hefty data plan. Cheap and / or fixed data rates means consumers will be able to enjoy products like Yahoo! Go without fear of having to re-mortgage the house after binging on data.
Since my last post on Bell’s introduction of fixed rates in Canada, Telus has started offering $15 fixed data plans as a retention strategy for existing customers. With both Bell and Telus dropping their data rates as a pre-emptive strike against the pending introduction of the iphone in Canada, we can only expect universal fixed data plans are on their way. Adding a fourth carrier can only help.
Mobile as a mass medium may no longer be restricted to countries not named Canada. Pretty cool, eh?
3 comments
as a side note to the unlimited “data” plans. you may notice that all the services providers are now listing their data services separating “internet” and “email” , still one charge, but clearly marked as separate things… According to my secret inside source, early in the new year you “data” charge will be split into two and you will be charged separately for your email and for your surfing…. Interesting to see how the public will react to that?
A follow up to this comment. Rogers now offers a $15 UNLIMITED email plan… this does not include data.
Hey, don’t forget that this happened years ago when additional spectrum in the then-new 1.9 GHz “PCS” band for Clearnet and Microcell (”Fido”).
What happened?
Telus Mobility, a.k.a. Bell’s twin sister, acquired Clearnet, and Rogers acquired Microcell (but continues to peddle their “Fido” brand).
Here we go again, on to round 2 … it makes me wonder if the CRTC is trying to create a level playing field, or if this is more comparable to dropping a couple of baby mice in with their pet boa constrictors.
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