It’s well known that Globalive is one of the new wireless carriers to come into Canada and one of the most feared as new competition. During the Wireless Spectrum Auction Globalive shelled out $442 million and planned to offer their services in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and then national in 2010.
However, the CRTC squashed their plans stating that “Globalive does not meet Canadian ownership rules”. Where it stands now is with Industry Minister Tony Clement has stepped in to review the situation.
Yesterday, Nadir Mohamed, CEO of Rogers Communications stated that if Globalive is unable to launch they would be more than happy to eventually buy their spectrum licences. Mohamed said “Spectrum is a very valuable asset. It’s the real-estate of our business, so Rogers would be for sure interested in picking it up. I’m sure others would be.”
If this ever goes that far, they will have some competition on their hands. During the CRTC hearings last month, Bell stated if “the spectrum is to be forfeited and returned to industry Canada… Industry Canada will then re-auction the returned spectrum…. Bell Canada is prepared buy up to 50% of it for up to 50% of the price payed by Globalive”.
However, we believe Globalive will eventually launch their WIND brand and that it’s just a matter of when.
