I wasn’t going to write about this - everyone else is. However, Ray sicc’d a reporter on me (thanks, Ray), and her questions made me think about a few things.
In short, by reserving a portion of available spectrum for companies other than the big three (Rogers, Telus, and Bell), the wireless provider pool should grow. And business theory suggests that more providers equals a better deal for consumers. Certainly, it means that a large incumbent company can’t just buy up all the spectrum and do nothing with it (from a Porter 5-Forces perspective owning all the spectrum would be a great way to block new entrants).
So, that’s the theory. And it remains to be seen if it plays out. But what is interesting to me is the players who are rumoured to be interested in entry - in particular Quebecor (owners of Videotron) and Shaw. Why those two? Well, they’re ISPs and cable companies. Shaw, at least, also provides home phone service over it’s network (VoIP, but they don’t call it that).
Why are these two interesting? Call it convergence. Now, as a consumer, I have one company providing entertainment, data, and voice services. One bill. Well, that’s not that big a deal. But, what if my cellular phone could seamlessly travel between my home WiFi network and the cellular network? What if I can seamlessly travel between any WiFi network (home, work, school, public…) and the cellular network? With my phone choosing the cheapest option at the time. Of course, this assumes WiFi networks are cheaper than cellular; hmm, or at least that some WiFi networks are cheaper.
Now, what if this integrated data, entertainment, voice service company also started looking at what services they can push out to their completely mobile customers? We don’t see a lot of folks watching TV on their cellphones in Canada. Is that because, like me, they prefer their huge HDTVs at home over 2-inch cell screens? Or, could it be that it’s just too expensive to get that much data streamed to your phone? Or a bit of both. Would more competition lead to more services? Would Apple finally launch their iPhone in Canada?
What do you think will happen in the near future? Will we have more competition? And if so, will it be there for the long-run?
1 comment:
(originally left by Cloned Milkmen Says:
on November 30th, 2007 at 6:35 pm)
I agree with the comments of your second-last paragraph. Part of the spectrum is going to be purchased by the existing tri-opoly of cell phone providers and they want it for streaming media. But streaming-media to phones has only worked in markets where cell phone service is dirt-cheap. In Canada we have not seen affordable cell phone service. Telus, Bell, and Rogers won’t be in a position to deliver anything of value to the public with the spectrum that is reserved for them.
A larger portion should have been reserved for new entrants (IMHO).
Your comments about Wifi are also quite compelling if you include WiMax as part of that. Note that Bell and Rogers have their “inukshuk” joint venture that is spreading WiMax all over the place. WiMax has some current limitations however… the WiMax modems require a lot of power and are kind of big. You won’t see a WiMax enabled laptop yet (for example). I don’t imagine there are plans for a WiMax phone any time soon.
I am reminded of how ISDN was handled by telcos in North America. While ISDN made a big difference in Europe, by the time it was introduced to North America was already had the Internet. I am not anticipating any substantial changes will come out of the auction.
Hehe, and on a much more personal note, I agree with one “man on the street” comment I heard on the radio regarding the auction: “will this require Telus or Bell to provide customer service? No… call me when either of them get a customer service department.”
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