Rogers LTE network now live in Calgary and Halifax (Canada)
Rogers Communications announced that Canada’s fastest and largest LTE network is now live in Calgary and Halifax. With this further expansion, Rogers brings LTE to nearly 12 million Canadians with plans to cover almost 60 per cent of the population by the end of the year.
John Boynton, Rogers Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, said that they are thrilled to offer their LTE network to even more Canadians in the east and the west. Now, Calgarians and Haligonians can enjoy the benefits of speeds on their mobile devices comparable to what they would get at home. And, they can do it on an LTE network that is Canada’s fastest and largest for a robust and reliable experience.
LTE is the fastest mobile network technology in the world, enabling Canadians to use their mobile devices to download apps, stream live HD sports and download HD files, such as movies and music or play on-line games, with virtually no delays or buffering.
Rogers was the first to launch an LTE network in Canada last summer, starting with Ottawa, followed by Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and surrounding areas. The company will bring LTE to more than 25 additional cities across the country this year. On the east coast, in addition to Halifax, Rogers recently launched LTE in St. John’s being the first to bring the fastest speeds to Newfoundlanders. In the west, Rogers will continue to expand in Alberta, with plans to launch LTE in Edmonton in the coming months.
Rogers currently offers the largest selection of LTE devices of any carrier in Canada with seven in its line-up. This includes two smartphones, a smartphone-tablet hybrid, two tablets, a Rocket Stick and a mobile hotspot. Rogers also offers LTE-ready plans for the iPad.
This month, Rogers will launch two new exclusive smartphones including the first Windows LTE smartphone — the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC One X — the first smartphone in Canada designed with Beats Audio for an incredible audio experience.
The national launch of Rogers LTE network reinforces its proud history of innovative firsts and its commitment to investing in Canada’s digital future. Rogers was the first carrier in North America to launch an HSPA+ network and offers Canada’s only coast-to-coast GSM network. Rogers was also the first in the world to launch BlackBerry devices. In Canada, Rogers was the first to offer LTE devices, the first to offer iPhone and the first to bring Android products to customers.
RIM and North American carriers battle over m-payments
Research In Motion is reportedly battling with wireless carriers in North America over their diverging mobile payments strategies.
RIM and the carriers disagree over exactly where the key data related to mobile payments should reside on the next generation of smartphones, slated to come out later this year, as this will decide who will control the customers, revenue and applications that grow out of mobile payments.
Carriers like Rogers Communications in Canada, and AT&T and T-Mobile USA in the US are opposing RIM and other handset makers’ strategy to make phones that will store mobile payments data, known in industry parlance as ‘credentials,’ in the devices themselves.
According to officials representing some of the carriers, this would bind users to phone makers’ devices and potentially cut carriers out of the loop. The carriers believe they want to encrypt and store the credentials in the phone’s SIM card as these can be easily swapped from phone to phone.
BCE defends bid to acquire CTV (Canada)
BCE Inc, the parent of Bell Canada has defended its bid to take over broadcaster CTV on Tuesday, stating that regulators have already allowed its competitors to buy programming assets.
The proposed purchase highlights a broader move by telecom and cable carriers to snap up content providers as consumers spend more time watching video on tablet computers and smartphones.
Pending approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), BCE will pay $1.3 billion for CTV, the country’s biggest private broadcaster. Including debt, the deal comes in at $3.2 billion.
According to the company, it would pay as much as $221 million to support independent content, in line with CRTC policy. The pledge reverses BCE’s earlier position that it should not have to make an additional payment because it paid $230 million when it first bought CTV in 2000. BCE later reduced its stake in the broadcaster.
In opening statements at the hearing in Gatineau, Quebec, BCE Chief Executive George Cope stated that the deal deserves to be approved in part because BCE’s main competitors already own both content and the ability to transmit it.
He cited Bell’s largest competitor, Rogers Communications, which owns Sportsnet and acquired City TV almost four years ago. He added that Quebecor’s Videotron cable arm has had unique access to TVA assets for a decade, while Shaw Communications owns Canwest and Corus media assets.
Indicative of the convergence trend, Quebecor’s Videotron launched a wireless service in Quebec in September, while Shaw has delayed the launch of its own mobile network until early 2012.
The CRTC approved Shaw’s $2 billion purchase of the broadcast assets of CanWest, which were in creditor protection, in October. In that deal, the regulator stated that it expects Shaw to give competitors access to the TV programming it owns, including on mobile and on the Web, on commercial terms.
The very day, the regulator also stated that it would review its safeguards against anti-competitive behavior. Submissions for that review are due in March.
BCE has been more circumspect about whether it would retain some exclusive content, such as sports or financial news, for its own customers.
CTV owns the CP24 news channel, financial news outlet BNN and sports broadcasting rights via TSN.
Samsung Launches Rugby II in Canada
Samsung Mobile has announced new handset, the Samsung Rugby II in Canada.
Designed for industrial use in sectors such as construction, field-service, transportation, and oil and gas, the Samsung Rugby II delivers features for industrial users including noise cancellation technology for clear conversation even in loud work environments, a large and easy to use key pad, and a rugged design that meets strict military specifications (U.S. Military Spec 810G) for resistance to blowing rain, high humidity, dust, and submersion in water.
Besides these, the phone supports global roaming and GPS, and has a 2MP camera and user expandable memory (up to 32GB via MicroSD card).
According to Paul Brannen -Vice President (Samsung Mobile Canada), Since a rough work environment can ruin many average phones, Samsung has created the Rugby II to withstand the extreme weather and tough treatment encountered on the job-site. At Samsung, they understand the ability to communicate in the field is paramount to a successful business, and the Rugby II helps ensure that when the job needs to get done, customers will have the right phone to make it happen.
The Samsung Rugby II also features a dual speaker design that offers an internal speaker for regular wireless calls and a large exterior speaker for handsfree conversations, Bluetooth and Multiple Messaging Options (MMS, SMS, and EMS).
The Samsung Rugby II is available from Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus.
YourLink to sell Saskatchewan Radio Spectrum (Canada)
Canada’s Vecima Networks’ subsidiary YourLink has agreed to sell its Saskatchewan 2.5-2.6 GHz spectrum to Inukshuk Wireless Partnership, a partnership of affiliates of Rogers Communications and Bell Canada, for $14 million. The licenses to be sold represent approximately 7.5% of the Canadian spectrum owned by YourLink.
YourLink will guarantee a smooth transition of its Internet customers to alternate spectrum it owns, which it claims will also open up significantly higher capacity and bandwidth for customers. Subject to regulatory approval, the agreement allows YourLink continued use of the spectrum sold to Inukshuk for one year after the agreement date.
YourLink currently provides video and broadband Internet access to approximately 19,000 customers through digital wireless services in Saskatchewan and several small cable TV systems in rural British Columbia.
Following the sale of the 2.5-2.6 GHz spectrum, YourLink will transition its wireless video customers in Saskatchewan to alternate service providers. Current revenue from video customers in Saskatchewan is only a minor part of YourLink wireless revenues.
According to Dr. Surinder Kumar, President and CEO of Vecima Networks, as the company has said in multiple quarterly calls, Vecima believes that the market value of YourLink’s total spectrum holdings before this sale is in the $35 to $50 million range. The company is pleased that this agreement provides strong evidence of the significant value contained within Vecima’s asset base built over 22 years of profitable operations. Further, the transition to other spectrum will allow them not only to introduce a new generation of their own advanced Internet radios, but also to expand service speed and bandwidth to their growing customer base. YourLink is a successful and growing component of their Canadian business and they look forward to enhancing their service to residential and commercial customers throughout Saskatchewan.
Rogers Communications to acquire Atria Networks (Canada)
Rogers Communications Inc. has decided to acquire Ontario-based Atria Networks LP from Birch Hill Equity Partners for about US$416 million.
According to Rogers, the purchase will boost its business solutions enhancing its ability to deliver on-net data centric services within and adjacent to its cable footprint. Atria is a fiber-optic data-network operator.
Toronto-based Rogers, a major cable and communications company, called the business-to-business market one of the significant opportunities. Atria, serves a diverse customer base of more than 1,100 customers spanning the public sector, enterprise and carrier providers.
Bell Aliant to expand FTTH network to Nova Scotia (Canada)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The FibreOP’ fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network will be expanded by Canadian telco Bell Aliant. The network is currently operational in New Brunswick and will be taken to Nova Scotia by the autumn, helped by a contribution of CAD2 million (USD1.9 million) from the provincial government.
CAD15 million will be initially invested by the telco in the Sydney, Nova Scotia area to bring FibreOP services to more than 30,000 homes and businesses there. The operators expect that 140,000 homes and businesses will have direct fibre by the end of the year as an attempt to fight off cable-based competition in its Atlantic Canada markets, especially from EastLink and Rogers Communications.
Additional CAD350 million investments to be made in 2011 and 2012 has also been announced by the company in May bringing the total investment in FTTH to almost CAD500 million and expanding FibreOP services to more than 600,000 homes and businesses.
Telus files suit against Rogers over ad claims
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A legal action has been launched by Telus Communications against Rogers Communications for allegedly misleading ads claiming Rogers provides Canada’s fastest network.†As per the complaint, since a Nov. 5 upgrade, a network run by Bell and Telus offers faster and more reliable service than the Rogers network.
Rogers introduced the advertisement in 2007 and continued after November 5. Rogers claim of Canada’s most reliable network,†has also been declared as false by Telus.
A declaration has been seeked from Rogers by Telus confirming that its advertisements breached Canada’s Competition Act, in addition to injunction from distributing the ads, damages and compensation.
Telus, Bell and Rogers control about 90 per cent of Canada’s wireless telecommunications market.
