Many companies have changed the way they communicate with customers in recent years with many now opting to send everything through e-mail rather than receiving letters in the post.

Rogers have certainly embraced the digital switch and has now decided to encourage their customers to make the switch by introducing a charge for paper bills.

The wireless provider will start introducing a $2 charge for every monthly bill that is sent out to their customers.

Rogers will now join a host of other leading Canadian providers such as Bell, Telus and Wind Mobile in adding a small fee for receiving physical bills in the mail.

By introducing a $2 charge onto the bill, Rogers are aiming to help their customers move into the digital age by receiving all of their monthly statements electronically where they can be viewed on both computers and smartphones.

Electronic statements have enjoyed a lot of popularity with consumers who have found the method to be much easier to receive and manage than those sent in the post.

Another reason for the move is to help the Toronto based provider to improve their efficiency with Rogers estimating that they would avoid using 1.6 million tonnes of paper each year if more people switch to the digital billing.

The news has been met with a mixed reaction by some groups who believe that the move isn’t completely fair to the consumer.

For example, the B.C. Centre for Elder Advocacy Support believes that some users such as the elderly may be hard done if they don’t have an internet connection. This was echoed by the group’s Executive Director Martha Jane Lewis who told CBC that “Technology is moving ahead and that’s fine for people who are able to cope with that. But for people who, through no fault of their own, are not into the technology age… they shouldn’t be penalized for this”

To try and offer a fair balance to all their customers, Rogers have stated that they are able to make exceptions for customers with special needs or the elderly who may not have regular access to the internet.

With Rogers set to introduce the fees within the next few days, it seems that wireless providers are certainly believing that emails is certainly the way forward for communication between their customers years down the line.

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Written by: Andrew Roach www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Telus has entered into an agreement to acquire Mobilicity for $380 million, an unprecedented move in the Canadian mobile market, the incumbent announced. The deal was pretty foreseeable, as earlier this month Mobilicity reached out to the government for financial help.

The news comes after the struggling wireless startup had scoured the globe for a buyer without obtaining any tangible results. As the court filing obtained by the Globe and Mail shows, financial advisers have contacted more than 30 potential purchasers, which include incumbents, local players, international telecoms, and even US private-equity companies.

Telus even confirmed that it was approached by Mobilicity back in December. “In December of last year, Mobilicity first approached us about a deal. One of the reasons they felt TELUS would be a great fit is they genuinely appreciate our customer focus and the improvements we’ve made over the past few years. We have the best client loyalty in the business and it continues to get better. Mobilicity approached TELUS as the best option for their company and customers. They have considered all of their options – and when I say all, I mean all,” TELUS Vice President of Corporate Communications Nick Culo writes.

But the dark clouds have kept on gathering above the wireless startup. After growing to 250,000 customers and having 150 employees on board, Mobilicity faced the harsh reality: it needed to either find a buyer or restructure its capital and secure additional funding, otherwise the road would lead to a dead end.

And finally, the rich prince on a white horse came: Telus. Happy ending, and hopefully they will live happily ever after.

Unfortunately for wireless customers, the story doesn’t end here – it is only the beginning.

For a start, this means a big hit for wireless competition, because one wireless startup is down, although it could secure less than 1% of the 27 million Canadian mobile subscribers. But let’s not forget that another two wireless startups are reportedly up for grabs.

After the news broke, critics warned that this would prompt higher prices for monthly cellphone services if the deal went through.

For Mobilicity customers, this means they will be approached in the Telus way, and they will benefit from the incumbent’s national coverage and faster data speeds on its 4G LTE network.

For Mobilicity’s 150 employees, the deal means they will have an option to retain a permanent position at Telus.

The deal is subject to conditions, including approval by Industry Canada, the Competition Bureau, and Mobilicity’s debt holders.

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Written by: Istvan Fekete. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

How much time in prison would you expect one to serve if they robbed 24 million people or if their swath of destructive actions wreaked over $20 million in damages? If these crimes were committed in the real world you might justifiably assume the guilty would never again see the light of day, sentenced to incarceration for the rest of their natural lives, but commit those same crimes in the digital realm and things, my friends, are drastically different.

This week four “core” members of the well-publicized LulzSec hacking group were sentenced in the U.K. yesterday after all pleaded guilty to various hacking related charges. Ryan Ackroyd, 26; Jake Davis, 20; and Mustafa al-Bassam, 18, were sentenced together with Ryan Cleary, 21, sentenced after a slightly longer two-day hearing in London.

Not surprisingly the four got off with relatively stiff slaps on the wrist, with Ackroyd sentenced to 30 months—serving half—and Davis 24 months—serving at least 12 months—in an institution for young offenders. Bassam received a suspended sentence of 20 months, and Cleary was ordered to serve half of his 32-month sentence. Justice served attempted I suppose.

While the exploits of this hacker commune are too many to list, the most notable was the 2011 attack against Sony and its Playstation network, when millions of dollars in damages were done and the information of millions of users was stolen.

The key factor motivating these relatively light sentences seemed to be the fact that none of the accused created the swath of digital destruction for financial gain, as the prosecutors were seemingly unable to establish just how much any of the men actually earned from their various hacking exploits. Of course the fact that they didn’t make money off of this makes it all the more serious, not less, as it shows a disturbing penchant for wreaking destruction and havoc with no more motivation than their amusement, by far the scariest sort of criminal I would say.

While certainly not confirmed, what’s even more disturbing is what these digital criminals will likely be doing once they’re released, no doubt agreeing to a common plea bargain that would see them cast into Her Majesty’s counter-Cyberterrorism service, using their undeniable talents to fight against their own.

To wit, you might remember the well-publicized story of LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur (known in hacker circles as “Sabu”) who was found to be working with the FBI as an informer for at least six months following his capture, news that at the time shook the hacktivist community and resulted in several additional arrests.

Considering the relatively light sentences and the fact that cushy well paid government jobs likely await when their stint is up, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t consider this a decisive strike against the heart of anonymous hackers the world over, as even the aloof and detached emotional responses of the accused demonstrate that even when hackers are caught there’s not much to be afraid of.

In the end, I will admit that there’s a certain politically motivated element of the hacker life that I respect, almost as if they’re stickin’ it to the man in so many ways I want to but never can. But that said, more often than not the destruction wrought by such hackers seems to have little or no purpose behind it, with companies and individuals suffering monumental damages at the whims of a people hiding behind their keyboards.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

BlackBerry is planning to release its popular messaging platform, BBM, for iOS and Android as early as this summer, the company has announced. This means the platform barriers will finally fall, and you will be able to connect with your friends using BBM and share the love.

This also means that the company has finally admitted its current status on the mobile market: the best place to be right now is on iOS and Android. According to the most recent announcement on Google I/O, there are 900 million Android devices out there spread across the globe, while Apple’s latest stats talk about 500+ million iOS devices worldwide.

From this perspective, the 60 million BlackBerry userbase looks small.

But how does the messaging competition stack up? Again, we’ve heard yesterday that GCM (Google Cloud Messages) delivers 17 billion messages each day, meaning 200,000 push messages each second.

Apple’s iMessage, announced with iOS 5, delivers 2 billion messages each day, according to January stats.

The most recent BlackBerry stats reveal that BBM users send 10 billion messages on a daily basis, but as a comparison, WhatsApp, boasts 20 billion daily discourses, and currently has 200 million active users. A tremendous performance.

By developing a BBM application for iOS and Android, BlackBerry admits its place in the tech giants’ top list: it will never bring back those golden days, because it will never unseat either iOS, or Android.

With the company’s desperate need for a success story – it is losing ground even in the enterprise market, as the has Pentagon opened up its network to iOS and Android devices and granted both iOS 6 and Samsung Know the security certificate the two needed to create a strong base in the enterprise — and the BBM app for iOS and Android could be one.

If it can boost its userbase, it could signal both investors and future users that it is something still worth caring about, and that it still has huge potential as a services provider. Going even further, success for BBM for competing platforms could also increase the number of potential BlackBerry customers.

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Written by: Istvan Fekete. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Independent carriers have had a tough time of it in recent months especially Wind Mobile who has struggled to make much headway against their larger rivals and found themselves put up for sale by their owner.

Whilst Wind’s parent company VimpelCom is awaiting approval to take full control of the provider, the company has stated that they haven’t come to any final decision about what direction they will take once everything is finalised.

The statement comes as the Dutch firms decides whether to use their Egyptian wing Orascom to try and place the firm into a position that will allow them to harbour full control of Wind.

Despite the uncertainties, Wind still managed to post some good news as they announced a rise in customers during Q1 of 2013.

There is still a lot of debate surrounding what direction VimpelCom are going to take should their takeover of Wind be approved by industry regulators.

The move has been in the works for several months now and despite the rules of foreign owners being relaxed significantly last year, nothing has yet been finalised.

With reports stating that VimpelCom’s subsidiary Orascom is planning to make an attempt to buy former owner Anthony Lacavera’s shares in the company, it means that there is some interest in order to stabilise Wind’s future.

This was solidified by comments made by VimpelCom Jo Olav Lunder who stated that they were looking at several options to keep Wind Mobile in the wireless industry. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he said that “when we have it, we will conclude whether we do an organic growth play or whether we merge with some of the regional players or whether we simply dispose [of] the asset. And we keep our options open in Canada.”

Whilst VimpelCom’s mind is yet to be decided, the firm would have been pleased to see that Wind are still performing well in the industry following a growth in subscribers since the start of the year.

Over the first quarter, Wind Mobile added 11,281 subscribers taking their customer base over the 600,000 mark for the first time.

The news shows that Wind does still have potential to grow in the market and it will be certainly interest rival bidders such as Rogers and equity firm Catalyst Capital.

No matter who is interested in buying Wind, the world will need to wait and see what VimpelCom decides to do with the firm before their future can be settled once and for all.

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Written by: Andrew Roach www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

It’s been no secret that in the tech industry one of the most popular (although arguably the least effective) weapons against a successful rival isn’t product development or radical innovation, its patent related lawsuits. For several years now patent wars have raged between mobile titans like Apple and Samsung, each trying to use every legal tool at their disposal to block or stymie their opponents at every turn.

So it comes as no surprise to hear that Apple is trying to add Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 to its growing list of Samsung products that infringe on Apple patents, the hope being of course to nip the new smartphone in the bud before it’s able to penetrate the mobile market.

Despite Apple’s recent patent victories against the Korean tech giant however, its unlikely the Cupertino Company will get much help from the courts in its fight against the Galaxy S4—which seems destined to be one of the biggest sellers in Samsung’s history—for the simple fact that the pace of lawsuits is much too slow and the growth of the smartphone market is far too fast.

As I alluded to, while patent litigation is practically the default tack companies take to try to stymie the development efforts of their closest competitors, it strikes me as one of the least effective means of curbing cutting edge development that may infringe on a company’s intellectual property, given rapid smartphone growth and device turnover.

Simply put, in the modern mobile market a phone like Samsung’s Galaxy S4 has a relevant shelf life of approximately two years, which in today’s market is generally two development cycles. That means that the phone will spend a year being the cutting edge choice for consumers, and then spend another year being the budget alternative to its more powerful successor. After that the phone sales will drop dramatically as the company and consumers move on to bigger and better things.

That means, unfortunately for Apple in this case, that by the time the courts get around to addressing the accusations of intellectual property infringement, which in our modern legal system is likely at least a year from now if not more, the device itself has had plenty of time to saturate the market, earn revenue for the company, and start to fade from view.

In fact, while the legal teams at both Apple and Samsung seem to be working overtime with patent suits and counter-suits, far more often than not the devices that are eventually found to be infringing on one or the other’s intellectual property are phones that are severely outdated, meaning the hit to a competitor’s pocketbook is negligible at best.

So why bother with patent litigation to begin with? For starters, I will admit that defending one’s intellectual property is important, but when it’s a weapon used to hamstring one’s opponent, it strikes me as a worthless endeavour and smacks of desperation.

The fact of the matter, as Roman Tsibulevskiy, patent attorney at Goldstein Patent Law, explains, is that the “Inclusion of S4 on the infringing list will not put any dent in S4 sales any time soon, because courts take too long and consumers don’t pay attention to this list, as most consumers just want a good and affordable smartphone.” This means that if Apple really wants to combat Samsung’s growing popularity, it might want to spend a little less money on its legal team and a little more money on research and development.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Over the past few years, Canada has been strengthening its infrastructural ties with the US in order to minimize any possible disruption to services that overlap between the two countries.

But a huge step has been reached as the two nations have agreed to an agreement which will see the sides share frequencies across the border to help improve wireless networks along the border.

The agreement will initially focus on spectrum needed to run the internet in border communities smoothly and provide better broadband coverage in both countries.

The news comes as internet spectrum continues to be a hotly contested issue in Canada with the spectrum licenses coming up for renewal in a few weeks.

With the announcement of the new agreement between both Canada and the US, it means that towns near the US border will experience much less chances of interference affecting the Internet in the region.

Initially, the spectrum will be shared from frequencies ranging from 350MHz to 3700MHz which covers all form of internet including high speed broadband connections.

It will see that connections on both sides will be joined together creating one complete network rather than sticking to within their own countries.

As the effects of the agreement kick in, it means that multiple device will now be able to access an internet network without the potential to lose access or be kicked off thanks to geographical limitations.

In another strand of the new deal, it will also give public bodies better methods to warn of threats to the area such as the improvement of public broadcast systems.

There will be a host of improvements on services on the 4940 – 4990 MHz spectrum which will help authorities send messages on treacherous weather and local threats on various systems such as the Advanced Wireless System and the Personal Communication Service.

Neither the FCC nor Industry Canada has stated when the agreement will come into effect but with both sides agreeing to share their resources on the border, it will mean that residents in border towns can look forward to a much more stable wireless and internet connection in the near future.

When it claimed “fewer dropped calls” compared to its startup wireless rivals back in 2010 at the launch of its Chatr discount service, Rogers violated Canada’s false-advertising rules.

The argument comes from a federal Competition Bureau lawyer, Tom Curry, who described some of the Rogers ads during a Toronto trial on Monday. From the Bureau’s perspective, the ads showing frustrated people who got cut off during a call in contrast to smiling Chatr customers continuing their calls suggest a “meaningful” difference in dropped calls.

“None of that is actually true,” Mr. Curry said, arguing that even in places where data suggest Chatr did have fewer dropped calls, the difference is tiny – as little as one dropped call in 500 calls.

“The differences are not significant in many, or most cases,” he told court. “Those images are significant. They create a general impression of a strong and meaningful difference in the level of service.”

The Bureau’s main point is that Rogers cannot back up its claims about “fewer dropped calls”, as there are no “adequate and proper tests”. In other words, these ads are false and misleading, and part of an aggressive marketing campaign characteristic of the battle between the incumbents and wireless startups who entered the market in 2008.

Of course, there is a big disagreement between the two parties about the truth factor of these ads: Rogers claims the ads are “unquestionably true and correct”. They back up their claim saying it conducted industry-standard “drive tests” that involved making calls on competitors’ networks from specially equipped trucks.

On the other hand, the Competition Bureau strongly disagrees with the interpretation of these tests, and pointed to network data extracted from cellphone companies’ computers, which it says are more accurate. And the data sheds light on the real face of the network’s performance.

What is interesting is that Rogers immediately withdrew the ads when the Competition Bureau raised objections.

From Rogers’ perspective — and I think this is a no-brainer — those seriously misleading customers are the competition.

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Written by: Istvan Fekete. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

At the time they were seen as bold words from Blackberry, the company CEO Thorsten Heins stating that within 5 years there won’t “be a reason to have a tablet anymore.” While some took his utterances as nothing but sour grapes from a company bereft of a successful tablet offering, others were intrigued by Heins’ vision for the future, perhaps even inspired by his clarity of purpose…but then he went and opened his mouth again.

During a Q&A session at the company’s annual Blackberry Live event yesterday, Heins clarified his company’s tablet strategy, offering some additional, and not to mention contradictory, thoughts on the tablet scene; thoughts that simultaneously made me feel that Heins doesn’t quite know what he thinks about tablets or the future of the mobile segment, and certainly has no idea how to build a successful tablet platform.

So what is Heins’ brilliant tablet strategy? Well, it happens to be almost exactly the same one that his failed predecessors Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie envisioned several years ago with the defunct Playbook, recreating tablets as complementary technology to Blackberry’s smartphones.

While the tech blogosphere is awash in stories about Heins’ apparent tablet flip-flop, few seem to have given thought to his words regarding his company’s tablet strategy, words that worringly outline a development plan almost identical to the one that resulted in the firing of the company’s previous co-CEOs a few short years ago.

According to Heins’ cryptic and contradictory comments, the company’s mobile computing strategy is built around one keystone: the smartphone. “We believe in a single element of mobile computing: one on your hip,” Heins said yesterday during Blackberry Live. Then 15 minutes later Heins further muddied the waters by offering this insight: “The industry got stuck on the term tablets,” Heins said, adding that, despite his previous comments, he does see a role with larger-screen devices. “We want to create something that’s easier to use.”

From his comments it’s becoming increasingly clear that Heins’ goal is to recreate the tablet experience so that they don’t run on a separate operating system, relying instead on a Blackberry smartphone to act as the brains of the device. The tablet would ostensibly be nothing but a large screen companion device, without an operating system of its own.

So imagine the ease of use Heins’ vision of the tablet future will bring: you relaxing on the couch ready to watch a show on Netflix or read the day’s newspaper on your tablet, when you realize your smartphone is out of power from a day’s worth of use, rendering that ‘easy to use’ large screen tablet in front of you absolutely useless.

In the end I have to say that from Heins’ comments last month to the cryptic tablet strategy he espoused this week the man is either a brilliant visionary on par with Steve Jobs, recognizing mobile consumer trends before people themselves know what they what they want, or a bumbling fool, desperately rehashing the company’s once failed (and only) tablet strategy in hopes of achieving different results.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

US law enforcement agencies are looking for ways to fight the growing problem of smartphone theft, which is being described as a “nationwide epidemic”.

The first to raise his voice and take action was George Gascón, San Francisco district attorney. He points to alarming statistics: in San Francisco last year, nearly half of all robberies involved a cellphone, up 36% from the previous year ; in Washington cellphones were taken in 42% of robberies; in New York, iPhone and iPad theft accounted for 14% of all crimes in 2012.

Gascón went as far as paying an official visit to smartphone manufacturers such as Apple, and asked for a smartphone “kill-switch”, which would help officials address smartphone theft.

Gascón was seconded yesterday by Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, who wrote a letter to Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung Electronics seeking information about what the companies are doing to combat theft of their devices in the state of New York.

According to fresh information compiled by Bloomberg based on New York City Police data, Apple products were stolen in a total of 11,447 incidents last year between January 1 and September 23, an increase of 40% compared to the previous year.

The call for action comes after the nationwide stolen phone database — launched with great fanfare – has failed to show any visible result. For those who may be unaware, there is a US database of stolen cellphones, which blacklists the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of a stolen or lost cellphone, with the aim of preventing it from being reactivated on another network and discouraging thieves from taking it in the first place.

Theoretically.

In practice, the database has shown no result, despite all major wireless carriers contributing to the database, because of the database flaws: it has no effect overseas. And, as recent reports have pointed out, the majority of stolen devices end up in the hands of users overseas.

Now it remains to be seen whether the anticipated Canadian stolen phone database will have the same results. At launch it will be a step ahead of the US database, as it will incorporate both Canadian and American IMEI numbers.

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Written by: Istvan Fekete. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Blackberry Live has become a yearly highlight now as the Canadian manufacturer bring some of the biggest names in entertainment and technology together to show off what the company has achieved in the past year.

Whilst the last couple of events have come when the company was under increasing pressure, this year’s show comes with the company riding a wave of success from the release of the two new Blackberry 10 phones.

Even though not many people are expecting any major announcements at this year conference, the company are likely to answer some of the most buzzing questions that the company have raised in previous months such as their stance on tablets and plans for more Blackberry 10 devices.

Alongside this, there is expected to be appearances and performances from numerous celebrities throughout the 3 days including Alicia Keys and The Alabama Shakes.

The tablet taboo

As always with Blackberry Live, there are always one burning question that the company will need to answer to satisfy critics and industry analysts.

This year, many will be looking to see the stance Blackberry will take on the development of tablets following the company distancing themselves from the devices.

Last month, Blackberry chief executive Thorstein Heins called tablets just a current fad and that they would be considered obsolete in 5 years time.

With this in mind, it looks increasingly unlikely that the rumoured Blackberry 10 Playbook will not come into existence at any point in the near future.

Looking to answer bigger issues in society

One theme that is set to take precedent during this year’s event is answering some of the bigger issues in society including the role of women and helping the developing world.

This year’s marquee guest is Alicia Keys and apart from performing at the event, the Grammy award winner is also set to be involved in several sessions showcasing the growing role of women in the technology industry.

Keys has featured in several advertising campaigns for Blackberry over the past year and has become of the major celebrity endorsers for their products.

Another issue that will be talked about is the growing technology market in developing economies where Blackberry has enjoyed strong sales particularly in Africa and Asia.

It’s expected that the company will unveil new strategies that will showcase how Blackberry will increase their presence across the world.

With Blackberry seemingly focused on developing current strategies and products, it seems that this year will be more about showing about how Blackberry wants to solidify their growth rather than leaping straight back to the top of the mobile phone empire.

As consumers continue to clamour for ubiquitous connectivity in this ‘connected everything’ age, government agencies and private sector companies are turning to Wi-Fi as their wireless saviour, implementing the wireless technology to increase connectivity over land, sea, and air, with the latter the latest focus of the Federal Communication Commission’s development efforts.

While increasingly airlines are offering in-flight Wi-Fi services there remain several barriers in the way of mass adoption, namely the subpar quality of service and the price one pays to access it. Recently the FCC announced its plan to boost bandwidth for in-flight wireless, meaning faster (and hopefully cheaper) service for business and vacation travellers alike.

But the FCC’s in-flight wireless plan has already run into some serious turbulence, as the proposal from the government regulatory body is almost identical to the proposal submitted by global chip manufacturer Qualcomm, leading many to question the FCC’s relationship with, or sheer dependence on, the private sector company for developing a nationwide in-flight wireless  development plan.

There’s no question that it looks bad when the FCC’s action plan for developing a usable and affordable in-flight wireless network comes directly from the pages of a proposal it received several years ago from Qualcomm. But while many cry foul and assume the FCC is somehow in cahoots with the chip maker I happen to think the situation is far more dire: the FCC has no idea what’s its doing.

Simply put, it’s a case of ineptitude, not shady backroom dealings, that has the FCC essentially plagiarizing Qualcomm’s 2011 in-flight Wi-Fi development proposal, given that no other private sector company has come forward with any plans and the FCC has neither the knowledge of Wi-Fi deployment nor the resources to gather the requisite information it needs to make its own decisions.

The details of the FCC/Qualcomm proposal involve the following: “The number of aircraft offering broadband service will quintuple from about 3,000 in 2012 to 15,000 by 2021, according to the FCC. The Commission is forwarding Qualcomm’s suggestion of tapping into the 14.0 to 14.5 GHz band to provide a secondary service that would not interfere with fixed satellite service (FSS) Earth-to-space communications.”

The bandwidth the FCC makes available will be licensed to carriers on a 10-year lease with the stipulation that it be dedicated solely to in-flight wireless services.

There’s no question that such upgrades will increase the effectiveness of in-flight wireless services, as connection speeds now, as many business travellers surely know, are truly a roll of the “broadband dice.” Further, by increasing the effectiveness more consumers will use the service, making it a profitable venture for more companies that in turn will drive the price of the service down, making this a much needed upgrade in this ‘connected everything’ age.

In the end, while some are crying foul over the FCC’s apparent partnership with chip maker Qualcomm in developing this in-flight wireless plan, I happen to think the FCC is simply not smart enough to engage in such shady backroom dealings; the horrifying truth being that the FCC’s use of Qualcomm’s wireless plan is wrought from desperation fuelled ineptitude, not shadowy intent.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

With more people choosing to use mobile devices to access the web, it has meant that telecom companies have managed to earn a bigger slice of the internet market.

However, this has placed the firms into competition with internet service providers and the ISP’s are not happy with the way that mobile providers are conducting their business.

Internet providers believe that mobile firms are hoarding their spectrum and getting an unfair advantage against other companies.

The spectrum battles are based on the 3.5MHz frequency which focuses on the high speed internet connections that are now common in many cities and towns and is being introduced for both homes and businesses.

In a few weeks, the licenses for the 3.5MHz frequency will be reviewed which means that many internet and telecom providers will be looking to get their chance to make an impact in the internet market.

Whilst competition is certainly going to be fierce for each license, some internet providers are already commenting that some of the major telecom companies have an unfair advantage through satellite companies that own spectrum but don’t use all of their resources.

Much of the focus is seemingly aimed towards Inukshuk Wireless which is a joint venture between Rogers and BCE. At the moment, Inukshuk owns around 75% of the total spectrum in Canada but has only focused its products in select areas.

This has angered several ISP’s including Xplorenet Communications who have submitted a formal complaint to Industry Canada in a bid to open up the market.

Xplorenet’s report featured several damning statements about Inukshuk and accused the company of stifling competition. In their report, the company said that “to allow carriers to continue to hold large amounts of spectrum licences without proper deployment by the end of their licence term simply endorses spectrum hoarding strategies.”

At the moment, Xplorenet only owns 5% of the available spectrum and having used nearly all of its available limits, they are hoping that their reports will open up the door to further investment for both the company and other ISP’s.

BCE and Rogers have defended their Inukshuk venture believing that the lack of compatibility with mobile devices on the 3. 5MHz frequency is the reason for not using all of their potential. In a statement, Inukshuk said that “Canadians will be more effectively served by the implementation of the most innovative and advanced technologies such as LTE, even if this means that the deployment requirements must be extended again.”

With no decision yet to be made on the spectrum licenses, it’s likely that the matter will rumble on for weeks to come. But Inukshuk will need to show that they will make good use of their share if they want to stop rival ISP’s such as Xplorenet getting a firmer foothold in the market.

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Written by: Andrew Roach www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Amazon has long been known for its disruptive capabilities, having already turned the publishing industry and ecommerce markets on their heads. Now, if rumours prove true, Amazon has the mobile sector in its sights, as the latest market speculation has Amazon developing two high-end smartphones as well as an audio-streaming device, expanding its range of Amazon branded hardware beyond the company’s current Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire offerings.

But what is most intriguing about these rumours is the sort of smartphones Amazon is rumoured to be creating, as The Wall Street Journal has reported that at least one of the handsets might support 3D video display, using advanced retina tracking technology to display a 3D image much like a futuristic hologram, offering a three dimensional picture from nearly every angle.

It’s the sort of rumour that many would hope would apply to Apple, but these days the tech market isn’t expecting much from the Cupertino giant. That said, it’ll be interesting to see if these rumours prove true or turn out to simply be more ‘vapourware’ in a increasingly stagnant mobile market.

If these rumours prove true it’ll certainly be interesting to see what effect it has on the innovation-starved mobile market as a whole, as Amazon has never been one to shy away from such risky advancements or one to avoid potential market upheaval. But despite the fact that Amazon has shown a great ability to create its own markets and then dominate them, can Amazon find success in the smartphone market with a 3D handset?

To wit, about the only thing out of place among these emerging smartphone rumours is what Amazon would really gain out of the endeavour, with many wondering how the ecommerce giant would utilize the mobile medium to do what all Amazon branded do…sell its products.

Simply put, while there’s no question behind the logic of the Kindle Fire, the company’s popular Kindle eReader offerings, or even the rumoured soon to come TV set-top box–as all offer great platforms for ecommerce–a smartphone needs to be more versatile, and if Amazon can’t offer the same mobile experience with its desired deep integration with ecommerce, no one will care if the phone offers 3D technology, it won’t sell.

Further, one has to ask if the market is ready for 3D mobile display, as consumers have been woefully slow in adopting 3D TV technology, meaning there may not even be a market for 3D smartphones.

That said, this is clearly a way for Amazon to differentiate itself from the mobile pack. As Josh Crandall, principal analyst at NetPop Research, explains, “All of the leaders are looking for the next miracle technology…Apple has its watch, Google has its Glass, and now Amazon has its 3D phone. Amazon is no longer a bookstore, it’s a major player in cloud computing and hardware. The media and gadget fans have a lot to look forward to.”

In the end, it’s really hard to say how the impending arrival of 3D mobile technology will be received, given that there simply is no precedent to draw on. Amazon would be creating an entirely new mobile genre with its 3D smartphone, and it’ll be interesting to see if the company will strike a cord with consumers, and how the phone itself will contribute to Amazon’s overall ecommerce push.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

A J.D. Power study has revealed a couple interesting facts about the Canadian wireless market: Koodo topped its consumer satisfaction survey, followed by Virgin Mobile and Wind Mobile.

Don’t let yourself be mislead by the names: both Koodo and Virgin Mobile are owned by the incumbents. The only odd-one-out on the list is Wind Mobile, the struggling startup, which is reportedly up for sale, just like the other two wireless startups, Public Mobile and Mobilicity.

But even more has been uncovered by the J.D. Power study, which was omitted by the majority of headlines, but highlighted by OpenMedia.ca: Canadian cellphone bills are up 13% compared to last year. And this is happening while the country’s overall inflation rate has been holding steady at 1%.

In an interview with CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange, Steve Anderson, the founder and executive director of OpenMedia.ca, a non-profit advocate for increased competition, shed light on the incumbents’ influence on prices and services. According to Anderson, Canadians pay some of the highest cellphone bills in the world for one of the worst services. And that’s happening because the government is really protecting these big telecom companies and may be the reason why they only compete in Canada and not abroad.

To back his claims, Anderson points to the Rogers–Shaw deal: the incumbent has a plan to grab wireless assets set aside for wireless startups by the government. Despite having clear guidelines for this scenario, the government won’t even enforce their own rules to stop the incumbent.

The above case is just one example of the government’s inconsistency, which recently made public — via Industry Minister Christian Paradis — that it needs foreign capital to boost cellphone market competition. As Kevin O’Leary highlights, these inconsistencies are keeping investors away from Canada, rather than encouraging them to put their money into a wireless market controlled by three, government-protected players.

And just highlight price gauging practices, O’Leary said it was 66% cheaper for him to roam in Canada on his Verizon phone, than using his cellular plan from an incumbent. I think there is a strong demand for a change.

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Written by: Istvan Fekete. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.