Feds Study Telus, Rogers Bids for Mobilicity; Founder Proposes Alternative MVNO Strategy

Canada’s two largest mobile operators by users, Rogers and Telus, have recently tabled takeover offers for financially struggling smaller cellco Mobilicity, although any potential deal is subject to federal government approval under strict wireless spectrum transfer rules aimed at preserving competition, the Financial Post reports. According to sources quoted by the paper, a group of creditors and directors of Mobilicity met over the weekend to assess offers from both national operators exceeding the previous CAD350 million (USD285 million) offer from Telus rejected last year by Industry Canada under the spectrum transfer rules designed to prevent nationwide incumbents gaining smaller competitors’ 3G/4G frequencies. Telus spokesperson Shawn Hall confirmed that the company remains interested in purchasing Mobilicity and put forth a proposed transaction to Industry Canada for review, while talks remain ongoing and confidential, with Rogers currently unwilling to comment. A key part of a potential deal would involve agreeing a free-of-cost transfer of Mobilicity’s AWS-1 frequencies to mid-tier cellco Wind Mobile post-purchase to circumvent the government’s competition-guarding policy. Telus confirmed that its latest proposal includes this free-transfer clause, and although this idea has previously been rejected by Industry Canada, there could be federal backing for a move bolstering Wind’s position following March’s AWS-3 spectrum auction in which Wind raised its profile against nationwide players Rogers, Telus and Bell by winning set-aside licences in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia for minimal prices after Mobilicity failed to find the funding to participate. So far, the government is remaining opaque on the latest prospects for a deal, with Minister of Industry James Moore’s press secretary Jake Enwright saying on Sunday: ‘We’ve had a clear position on these types of transactions for some time. We’ll not approve spectrum transfer requests that decrease competition in the wireless sector.’

Meanwhile, a separate proposal has been aired by Mobilicity founder John Bitove – backed by his holding company Obelysk – and a group of Mobilicity employees who have made an offer to Industry Canada to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Mobilicity itself is not involved in the MVNO bid.

Mobilicity has around 157,000 remaining subscribers and a network of around 450 3G cell sites in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa, operating under court-sanctioned creditor protection since September 2013 as it continues to seek an optimal exit strategy for creditors and investors.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article. 

Bell Begins LTE-A 220Mbps Rollout

Bell Canada has begun the rollout of an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network offering mobile data download speeds of up to 220Mbps on selected CAT 6 devices including Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6/Edge and HTC One M9. The following cities will be the first to receive Bell’s LTE-A services: Greater Toronto Area, Fredericton, Sydney, Charlottetown and Halifax. According to Canadian tech website MobileSyrup, Bell is providing the 220Mbps speeds via its Band 7 (2600MHz) spectrum and carrier aggregation between Band 4 (AWS) and Band 2 (PCS 1900MHz) to reach those speeds, whist Bell also operates LTE in the 700MHz band. Note that rival Rogers Communications switched on its first commercial LTE-A coverage zones last October.

Bell’s LTE (up to 150Mbps) network currently covers 91% of the population, while it plans to reach 98% by the end of this year.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article. 

Xplornet’s 25Mbps LTE Broadband Reaches Alberta

Xplornet Communications, Canada’s leading rural high speed internet specialist, has launched its new 25Mbps LTE-based fixed-wireless broadband service in the province of Alberta, it announced on its website. Xplornet says it will continue to roll out upgraded speeds to other rural communities across Canada, aiming to make 25Mbps internet available nationwide by 2017. Last month Xplornet – which operates hybrid WiMAX/satellite and TD-LTE broadband platforms – acquired 42 blocks of 2500MHz spectrum in rural areas across Canada in Industry Canada’s 4G spectrum auction. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, Xplornet paid CAD25.43 million (USD20.37 million) for its new 4G licences in Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

Cellcos’ Appeal Against Wireless Code of Conduct Rejected

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by Canada’s main mobile operators to delay the full implementation of the country’s ‘wireless code of conduct’, the Financial Post reports. The code was introduced by regulator CRTC in June 2013 to provide better consumer protection against high mobile roaming charges and wireless contract cancellation fees. A group of cellcos including the three nationwide network operators Rogers, Telus and Bell (BCE Inc) launched legal action last July after raising concerns that some provisions of the code would apply retroactively to all of their customers once fully implemented. However, Justice Denis Pelletier ruled the CRTC ‘has the right to make the wireless code applicable to contracts concluded before the code came into effect.’

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

Nine Operators Win 2500MHz Licences

Canada’s Industry Minister James Moore yesterday (12 May 2015) announced the list of provisional licence winners in the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) spectrum auction in the 2500-2690MHz (‘2500MHz’) band. 302 of 318 licences on offer in 61 areas across Canada were awarded to nine companies, with a total value of CAD755.37 million (USD626.49 million), after eleven participants were qualified to bid in the auction which opened on 14 April. The 2500MHz band licensing was particularly aimed at providing broadband services in rural areas, whilst also increasing the spectrum available nationwide to meet the demand for 4G mobile services on smartphones and tablets. The auction featured spectrum caps and smaller geographic licence areas to ensure that four or more wireless carriers, as well as rural internet service providers, had the opportunity to hold 2500MHz spectrum licences in every area of the country. All licences contain strict ‘use it or lose it’ deployment requirements.

The nine licence winners bid the following amounts (for 2500MHz concessions in the named provinces/territories):

Telus – CAD478.82 million (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut);

Videotron – CAD186.95 million (Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia);

Bell – CAD29.98 million (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut);

Xplornet – CAD25.43 million (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia);

Rogers – CAD24.09 million (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia);

Eastlink – CAD4.82 million (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta);

Corridor Communications (CCI Wireless) – CAD2.30 million (Ontario, Alberta);

MTS Allstream – CAD2.24 million (Manitoba);

TBayTel – CAD1.73 million (Ontario).

Two other qualified bidders, Wind Mobile and SSi Micro, did not acquire any licences.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

BCE, Rogers Carve-Up of Retailer Glentel Approved

Canada’s Competition Bureau has approved a transaction under which Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and its national quadruple-play telecoms rival Rogers Communications will take 50% equity each in retailer Glentel (Canada), following the latter’s acquisition by BCE which is set for completion on 20 May. Glentel will continue to sell mobile products from both operators at its 494 retail locations across Canada (which are run under names including WirelessWave, Tbooth wireless, Wireless Etc and Target Mobile).

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article. 

CRTC Issues Wholesale Mobile Roaming Decisions: Opts to Regulate Rogers, Bell and Telus

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued its final decisions on wholesale wireless roaming, following a lengthy consultation period. With the regulator having found that, under current market conditions, competition in the wireless market is ‘likely not sustainable’, it will therefore regulate the wholesale roaming rates charged by the national cellular network operating companies, Rogers Communications, Bell Mobility and Telus Communications. In light of these measures, the CRTC is recommending that the government repeal the legislated roaming caps that remain in place. The CRTC adds that is taking action to reduce certain barriers faced by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). In a related decision, the regulator stated that its existing processes are sufficient to address tower- and site-sharing issues related to the rates, terms, and conditions of wholesale agreements.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

Rogers’ Q1 Mobile, Internet Gains Make up for TV, Landline Declines

Canadian quadruple-play operator Rogers Communications reports that its consolidated revenue increased 5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015 to CAD3.175 billion (USD2.599 billion), reflecting revenue growth of 4% in Wireless, 1% in Cable, and 26% in Media, with stable revenue in Business Solutions. Wireless turnover increased as a result of higher network revenue from the continued movement of customers to LTE, and the adoption of higher average revenue per user (ARPU) generating ‘Share Everything’ plans, as well as greater smartphone sales. Cable revenue was relatively stable as continued internet revenue growth was offset by decreased revenue from pay-TV and residential fixed line telephony.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

SaskTel Announces Investment Budget, Annual Financial Results

Canadian regional operator SaskTel will invest CAD313 million (USD249 million) in CAPEX in Saskatchewan province in 2015, with CAD177 million dollars being allocated towards its core Saskatchewan network, while CAD45 million is earmarked for its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network (‘infiNET’) to connect 18,000 additional fibre homes in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and Swift Current. In 2015, SaskTel will invest CAD37.8 million in wireless network enhancements, including CAD18.2 million for 3G W-CDMA/HSPA+ (marketed as ‘4G’) and CAD14.6 million for 4G LTE expansion.

SaskTel adds in its newly published annual report that 59% of its mobile customers had LTE capable devices at end-2014, up by 30 percentage points in a year, while just 13% had CDMA devices, down by seven percentage points. The telco posted annual revenues in 2014 of CAD1.231 billion, up from CAD1.206 billion the previous year, driven by wireless, IPTV (‘maxTV’), internet and data services which offset the ongoing decline in traditional wireline services. Annual net profit fell to CAD76.4 million from CAD90.7 million due to continued investment in networks, the report noted.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.

Rogers Launches VoLTE Across Canada

Rogers Communications has switched on commercial voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services across Canada, available initially on the Android-based LG G3 Vigor smartphone, the country’s first VoLTE-enabled handset, with more VoLTE-ready devices expected this year. VoLTE allows the user to make voice/video calls over the all-IP LTE network whilst simultaneously browsing the web or streaming video at LTE speeds. In a press release, Rogers says its 4G network customers ‘will be the first in Canada to complete HD voice and video calls over a VoLTE network, where available, versus the traditional voice network’, giving users with a VoLTE device ‘clear, natural sounding voice and video calls’, whilst call connection time will also be faster.

Raj Doshi, Rogers’ executive vice-president, declared: ‘Now customers making voice and video calls will benefit from clear sound quality and the same lightning fast LTE speeds for calls that Rogers delivers to surf the web or stream from your mobile device … VoLTE will help our customers enjoy rich, multimedia voice services and we are proud to be the first Canadian carrier to offer it.’
The LG G3 Vigor smartphone is available inclusive in certain Rogers’ two-year contract packages, or can be bought outright for a one-off price of CAD299 (USD235).

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.