WIND Mobile on Rogers possibly delaying new carrier launches: “extremely distasteful and disappointing”

With the new wireless carriers coming into the Canadian market, it seems to be increasingly fashionable for the incumbent players (Rogers, Bell and TELUS) to express concern. Last week we heard that Rogers decided to urge the CRTC to look into how DAVE Wireless and Public Mobile foreign ownership is structured.

This is not new to Wind Mobile, formally known as Globalive Wireless, as they are about to go in front of the CRTC for their foreign ownership structure also. TELUS requested this inquest and it will happen on September 23rd and 24th in Gatineau, Quebec.

WIND Mobile decided to inform us all about their true feelings about the current carriers blocking and possibly stalling the launch of the new wireless Canadian carriers. They released statement and Ken Campbell, CEO of Globalive Wireless said “Rogers, Telus and Bell have worked hard to block our entry to market and at least Rogers now seems to be trying to do the same for the other new entrants. This type of regulatory gamesmanship is extremely disappointing and harmful. The uncertainty presented by our upcoming CRTC hearing and the human and financial resources spent preparing for it won’t stop us from bringing a compelling new offering to Canadians by the end of the year, but it has certainly made it harder. This is just as the incumbents intended. We believe that this latest move by Rogers represents another attempt to abuse the regulatory system with the objective of delaying new wireless competition. This, in my view, is extremely distasteful and disappointing.”

“We are confident that the CRTC will ultimately reach the same conclusion as Industry Canada and that we will be able to bring a very exciting wireless offering to Canadians. While we work to build our business we are creating hundreds of jobs and investing very substantial amounts in the Canadian economy. Within the year we will have invested a billion dollars in building our business. We respect our entrant competitors, DAVE and Public Mobile, and the investments they too are making. We welcome competition rather than fear it and remain committed to reaching market by the end of the year.”

I always go back to what Industry Minister, Jim Prentice said about the governments intentions of the Wireless Spectrum auction: “Our government’s intentions are clear: to achieve lower prices, better service and more choice for consumers and business . We believe in relying on market forces to the maximum extent feasible because competition benefits consumers, and consumers benefit most when markets are as competitive as they can be.”

Isn’t this what us consumers want: to lower prices, better service and more choice