said by shrugs :I umm, i was being sarcastic Maynard
Those poor little players need to be able to charge a bit more if they want to expand.
In other news on Videotron being the 4th National carrier:
We took advantage of a great price, No. 1, and as you know, spectrum is a great asset to own. So we could sit on it or do something with it, he said.
Mr. Dépatie did not spell out the conditions under which Vidéotron would expand outside Quebec. Industry observers believe Québecor will likely demand Ottawa give the Montreal-based company secure roaming rights on rivals networks and use of their towers at a fixed, low cost.
Videotron is holding the gov hostage till they do something for the new entrants. Something Wind, public and mobilicity should also have done.
What Videotron is saying is (as I see it), if they don't get what it want they'll just sit on the spectrum, not use it for 10 years, then sell it.
Good for them. Changes need to be made to give new entrants a fair shake to compete with the big 3.
See, »www.theglobeandmail.com/ ··· 7475427/
Whatever bully game Videotron is now using to strong arm the gov, it will play equally as favourable for the likes of Wind. Or at least, it should.
I think there's a number of things here (in no particular order):
a) "So we could sit on it or do something with it, he said.
To me that's an invitation for IC to retroactively change the rules to read, "If you don't actively use the full amount of spectrum you bought in at least 60% of the markets purchased within 5 years, the spectrum reverts to the Crown - without compensation." However, IIRC, I think something like this already exists and was in-place for the AWS auction. Mebee IC should clawback Videotron's AWS spectrum and lease it to Wind so they can move to LTE, as a 4th carrier in a market that doesn't have LTE really isn't a carrier these days.
b) If QC votes PQ, my bet is that the Feds drag their heels on all things telecom, pending any Neverendum.
c) Feds offer Vimpelcom a deal...like they did Chrysler, GM. Low-cost 10-year convertible debt, which if converted makes the GoC the majority owner of Wind Canada (hence 'Canadian' enough) and the money is used to buy Mobi. The feds do this under the guise of 'market failure' and a desire to fix the failure.
As a result, Wind picks up 200k customers and spectrum to move to LTE. Then the Feds can move on tower sharing/roaming/backhaul issues and Wind can expand nationally faster than Videotron. Heck, if they do the convertible debt deal with enough money in the deal (say $600MM total), then they can approve the Allstream deal without Sawaris's involvement, which would solve a LOT of Wind's backhaul issues, and provide an additional profitable revenue stream. The total cost of buying both Mobi and Allstream is in the $600MM range. The only flaw in this is lack of 700MHz spectrum - Wind would be locked into a higher-cost to deploy 2100MHz infrastructure for given coverage area.
d) Or Wind expands via a 'Kickstarter' mechanism. Wind announces intended coverage areas and invites people to pre-subscribe for say a killer 6/12/24-month regional launch deal (maybe all-you-can eat + Nexus 5/Blackberry Q10 or whatever the equivalent is on launch day). If they reach their target subscriber count ( x the 6/12/24 months up-front revenue commitment) then Wind builds-out in that region using the pre-committed funding. If Wind is smart, they get the money held in-trust so if Wind doesn't reach the subscriber target or something happens to Wind in the interim, the people get their money back. This allows people to NOT lock-in to ROBELLUS renewals, knowing that Wind is probably coming to their town soon enough. It helps negate the effect of contract 'lock-in'.