The Canadian mobile marketplace has been a pretty boring and outdated scene for a long time. Not only are the average monthly plans among the most expensive in the world, but the cellular networks that we rely upon are outdated and unreliable. Until recently, Rogers was the only major Canadian company to have a 3G network while Telus and bell were lagging behind with older technology. What this meant was that Rogers was the only company that could offer 3G smart phones and could charge outrageous prices for the phones because they had zero competition. Things were looking pretty bleak for the past couple years until Telus and Bell announced that they were working together to launch a brand new 3G network that was among the most technically advanced in the world!
3G for all
Bell and Telus launched their brand new 3G networks on November 4, 2009 and November 5, 2009 respectively. This was very exciting because it meant that Bell and Telus could finally offer new and more exciting smart phones to their customers who had been stuck with older and out of date phones. It was also exciting to see the pricing plans they would unveil as they would now be competing directly with Rogers in the smart phone marketplace.
The iPhone
In Canada, Rogers was the only company to sell the iPhone because they were the only 3G carrier and hence was the exclusive iPhone carrier by default. Since Rogers knew that they were the only game in town for the iPhone they decided to charge ridiculous prices for their iPhone plans ($68/$83 per month). Many Canadians took offense to the outrageous price points but in the end the iPhone still became the most popular phone in Canadian history. I’m sure that Bell and Telus took great satisfaction when they had the chance to finally launch the iPhone on their new 3G network. I was watching intently to see if Bell and Telus would undercut Rogers and make their iPhone an affordable choice. They did not disappoint and started offering the iPhone on monthly contracts for only $50! (Take that Rogers). Needless to say, I’m sure there are many upset Rogers customers at the moment.
The aftermath
Although cell phone plans are still arguably overpriced in Canada, there is finally some legitimate competition in the marketplace now that all three major carriers have an advanced network. The good news just keeps on coming as we are expecting at least 2 other cell phone carriers to enter the marketplace in the first half of 2010! (Hopefully 3 if Globalive can get permission from the CRTC). It is nice to see that there are signs of the Canadian Mobile marketplace finally moving forward although I think we can all agree there is no way it could have gotten any worse.
Telus sues Rogers
It was rather amusing to see that not long after Telus released their new network, they handed Rogers a lawsuit. When the new network was switched on, Telus and Bell has a network that was far superior to Rogers in almost every way. At this point Telus told rogers that they should stop airing commercials that claimed it had “Canada’s fastest and most reliable network”. When Rogers did not meet their request Telus handed them a lawsuit for false and misleading advertising. The result of this lawsuit is still pending but I think I can safely say that Telus has been planning this for a long time and takes great satisfaction in knowing they are now on top of the mobile market with Bell.
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