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Sprint’s LTE G-Block deployment gives “Public Mobile customers access to a much broader selection of devices”

By on October 7, 2011 at 4:19pm in Mobile News, Public Mobile


Public Mobile currently operates in Toronto and Montreal, using the once unwanted G-Block spectrum. During the 2008 wireless auction Public invested $52 million which gave them coverage between from Windsor to Quebec City. Back in April of last year Public Mobile made it known that their “Long term plan is to move to LTE along with the rest of the world so our network is being built with that in mind”.

Today, Sprint announced plans to rollout their LTE network over the next couple years, investing upwards of $10 billion, and deploying it on the G-block spectrum. Several LTE-capable devices and tablets will be released and it seems Public Mobile could benefit from this too. In a press release today Public stated that this move by Sprint is “will have a positive spin-off effect for Public Mobile and its customers… Sprint’s announcement that it will launch 10 to 15 LTE devices next year changes the handset ecosystem and will give Public Mobile customers access to a much broader selection of devices as a result. The handset market is now wide open”.

This actually amazing news for Public and their customers, mainly because they have been sitting on less than popular brand name handsets. With this news they not only increase the value of their spectrum, but will potentially bring on better brands and more powerful devices… all at a low-cost. This is a very positive note and I’m sure the execs and investors at Public are incredibly thrilled about their $52 million investment.

There is no confirmation on when Public will go forward on LTE, but Brian O’Shaughnessy, CTO of Public said this “will aid in Public Mobile’s move to LTE when the time is right.”

Source: MarketWire

Related posts:

  1. Public Mobile hints at launching $200 Android devices
  2. MTS makes deal with Sprint to bring on “a broader range of devices”… possibly the Palm Pre?
  3. Public Mobile confirms plans to eventually go LTE
  4. Public Mobile customers can now receive AMBER Alerts on your phone

Discussion

26 comments for “Sprint’s LTE G-Block deployment gives “Public Mobile customers access to a much broader selection of devices””

  1. Maybe next year we’ll get good price plans in montreal for some good phones…..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Malek | October 7, 2011, 4:23 pm
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    • HAHAHA I TOLD ALL U WIND/MOBI FANBOYS THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN AND BIG THINGS WERE AROUND THE CORNER HAHAHA I TOLD U SO!!!! GO PM!!!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 14

      Posted by phoneguy | October 8, 2011, 5:32 pm

  2. Wow, Wow and Wow. These guys must be the smartest guys in the canadian wireless industry. I never saw this come and truly did not expect them to be around in 2-3 years. So this means they paid 1\10 of the others guys for spectrum, but yet cover more POP vs Wind and Mobi and can go LTE before Wind and Mobi… that are stuck with AWS spectrum they cant upgrade as per Mr Lacavara without more spectrum . Where can I buy Public mobile stocks ???

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 47 Thumb down 12

    Posted by sam | October 7, 2011, 4:31 pm
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    • Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 19

      Posted by bob | October 7, 2011, 4:43 pm

  3. This was a huge gamble for Public, and while i’m glad they won, i want them to stop wasting money by suing WIND.

    Where is Phoneguy?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 37 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Alex Perrier | October 7, 2011, 4:33 pm
    Reply to this comment

    • Alex – For clarity, Public isn’t suing Wind. It is suing the federal government. The government basically said that Wind could operate with all foreign capital and that this ruling only applied to Wind and not other new entrants. All Public seems to be seeking is clarity and a level playing field.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 2

      Posted by Spidey | October 8, 2011, 8:35 am

  4. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 29

    Posted by Big 3 | October 7, 2011, 4:49 pm
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    • I guess that what it means is that when Samsung builts a LTE phone for Sprint Public will/may be able to purchase the phone or at least one could unlock one and go with Public … Nothing to do with Roaming

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 3

      Posted by wind blows | October 7, 2011, 5:02 pm

    • PM only allows their own phones to be used on their network. You cannot take an unlocked phone to them and use it.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 20

      Posted by Jonesy1966 | October 7, 2011, 5:56 pm

  5. I found 2 grammatical mistakes while quickly reading through this article. Come on, MS, stop embarrassing yourselves!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 5

    Posted by Star | October 7, 2011, 5:46 pm
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  6. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 27

    Posted by Nick | October 7, 2011, 5:49 pm
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  7. @sam why couldn’t Wind/Mobi go 4G when T-Mobile has LTE devices and use the same band!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2

    Posted by MARS | October 7, 2011, 6:37 pm
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    • Jonesy1966, LTE is l’ile GSM/HSPA. It comes with SIM carda

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 5

      Posted by Brett | October 7, 2011, 6:40 pm

    • Good question Mars, Wind CEO said that in a interview lately. I must assume it is a technical reason and that T Mobile has found a way around it

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1

      Posted by Kiam | October 7, 2011, 6:44 pm

  8. They don’t have enough spectrum to deploy both LTE and HSPA Kiam. Remember that the Big3 bought as much spectrum as they could just so Wind and Mobilicity can’t get it. So now the Big3 are forced to use this AWS spectrum for LTE or else they will have hard time convincing us that they need more spectrum from the next auction. Wind on the other hand has just enough (or not enough?) spectrum to deploy HSPA so they can’t deploy LTE unless they buy on the next auction.
    Come to thing of it these are man-made problems: yes, spectrum is limited but most of it is currently being wasted. Here is a proposal to fix the current situation:
    Make Rogers/Telus/Bell give back the unused 850/1900MHz spectrum so Wind and Mobilicity can buy it. Then Everybody can deploy LTE on 700/1700MHz and customers benefit. May be this can be put as a condition for having a free for all auction (i.e. every body can buy 700MHz equally but unused 850/1900MHz has to be released and offered at another auction for new carriers only).

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Stefan | October 7, 2011, 7:36 pm
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    • the 1900 and 850 MHz owned by Robellus is much more used than the AWS spectrum owned by Wind and Mobilicity

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 3

      Posted by bob | October 7, 2011, 8:31 pm

  9. Spectrum this, spectrum that, LTE this.

    K lets just get something that works behind 2cm of concrete. This is honestly my biggest gripe with the new carriers. LTE is not that important to me in comparison.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 6

    Posted by DeGen | October 8, 2011, 5:21 am
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  10. Somebody get phoneguy a tissue, he’s going to need it. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 4

    Posted by ind | October 8, 2011, 9:56 am
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  11. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 17

    Posted by skrpg | October 8, 2011, 10:04 am
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    • Skrpg,
      Actually, that’s exactly what Robelus do…. We work our a*s off to make a living and they rip us off with their rates. Who is taking advantage of whom??? Stop drinking the Big3 coolaid!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 1

      Posted by Kermit | October 8, 2011, 2:57 pm

  12. oh phoneguy, did you think we actually cared what you had to say in the first place?

    first, get your hand out of your pants.

    second, go move to the states. Public is no longer such a “proud canadian company”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 11

    Posted by 0defaced | October 8, 2011, 7:59 pm
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  13. Good on them. I can’t wait to see them get into the smartphone market and become a viable option for a phone nerd like me.

    Not sure why so many of you are so negative about them. Why wouldn’t you want to see them do well and grow as a force in the market? They are helping to bring rates down for all of us.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Greedy | October 10, 2011, 11:32 am
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  14. wait a minute! they invest so little and are LTE ready! what about wind? how is it they are so out of the loop!

    oh yeah thats right they are jabronied.. and the new owners are not on good terms.. first it was the Pharaohs now its the borscht Barron…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Rocco StiffReddi | October 11, 2011, 2:29 am
    Reply to this comment

    • I did a small research and from what I think I understand is that they could upgrade to LTE because of CDMA that can be split in different channels and the hardware Public is installing can be easily upgradable…as for AWS (Wind/Mobi) they cannot go to LTE without spending another 300 to 500 $M when/if the government sales more spectrum as AWS/HSPA cannot be split in channels to upgrade. Therefore that would mean that both of them would have spent almost 1G$ to get there and Public $50 M. Yet I am not 100% certain I am correct …

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Kiam | October 11, 2011, 8:15 am

  15. Two new phones are being released in November which are Androids, one by ZTE. Towers are also being upgraded to faster speeds. When sprint releases these phones on their 4g network, Public would probably switch to LTE a year after when the phone prices drop.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Phonedude | October 18, 2011, 1:38 am
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