The only Canadian cellphone company technically compatible with the new gadget is as mute as the Sphinx about any plans for iPhone, refusing to even discuss the question.
July 28, 2007 (Press Release) --
Gadget freaks across Canada are still grumbling that the iPhone, Apple Inc.'s hyper-cool new mobile-everything device, is not yet available in Canada, almost a month after the United States launch. Worse, the only Canadian cellphone company technically compatible with the new gadget is as mute as the Sphinx about any plans for iPhone, refusing to even discuss the question.
It turns out that the silence of Rogers Communications Inc. speaks loud and clear about what's wrong with the wireless-phone business in this country. And the problem afflicts far more Canadians than only iPhone cultists.
Lack of competition in the mobile-data business means prices are high, which is keeping Canadians off the newer sections of the information superhighway. Hardly anybody in Canada would be able to afford the mobile Internet service provided by the iPhone, and certain other handheld devices -- because all of Canada's service providers keep their mobile data rates sky-high.
Perhaps the three big companies in our market are reluctant to invest in more infrastructure to provide more capacity and so reduce rates. Perhaps they have calculated that their profits are maximized with a tiny market for high-priced services. Perhaps they're collectively just asleep at the switch. Whatever the cause, the result is inevitable and obvious: Canada is sinking down the league table in use of wireless e-mail, online mapping and the Internet in general, as well as basic cellphone use. About 58 per cent of Canadians now have cellphones; in the U.S., the figure is 77 per cent and Britain, the Czech Republic and several other European countries have more than one such device per person.
This isn't just about people sending their siblings snapshots of their kids, as in the TV ads for iPhone. There are significant productivity aspects to mobile access for business. Companies that can't afford high rates must forego the enhanced connectivity that can speed up and improve business decisions. Economists have demonstrated that higher rates of use greatly encourage higher economic output. "While investors may be pleased," Videotron CEO Robert Depatie said in a speech last month, "consumers are being exploited and the country's productivity suffers." He's exactly right.
What remedies are there to this problem? The answer, as so often in Canada, would involve more competition, additional service providers willing to offer more mobile wireless capacity at prices closer to the global norm. But unfortunately that solution, also as so often in Canada, is politically difficult. The current providers, which compete so vigorously in clever advertising but so little in genuine price competition, are widely held companies doing pretty well from the status quo, thank you.
From time to time the federal government auctions off new wireless broadcasting spectrum, the virtual pipe through which data flow. Canada is already behind Europe, the U.S. and much of Asia in the roll-out of so-called third-generation wireless capability. It's vital that Ottawa get this right with the next auction.
Industry Minister Maxime Bernier has asked Canadians what principles should guide the next such auction. The obvious starting point, we believe, is more competition, beginning with the setting aside of spectrum for new entrants. Videotron, MTS-Allstream of Manitoba, and others large and small are interested in this market. Start-up costs are so high, though, that Ottawa must set encouraging conditions, not only with spectrum set-aside but in other ways, such as by allowing regional licences, instead of requiring a new player to operate coast-to-coast.
Bernier is said to be a true believer in competition. Here he has a chance to prove it.
Source: http://www.canada.com/
It turns out that the silence of Rogers Communications Inc. speaks loud and clear about what's wrong with the wireless-phone business in this country. And the problem afflicts far more Canadians than only iPhone cultists.
Lack of competition in the mobile-data business means prices are high, which is keeping Canadians off the newer sections of the information superhighway. Hardly anybody in Canada would be able to afford the mobile Internet service provided by the iPhone, and certain other handheld devices -- because all of Canada's service providers keep their mobile data rates sky-high.
Perhaps the three big companies in our market are reluctant to invest in more infrastructure to provide more capacity and so reduce rates. Perhaps they have calculated that their profits are maximized with a tiny market for high-priced services. Perhaps they're collectively just asleep at the switch. Whatever the cause, the result is inevitable and obvious: Canada is sinking down the league table in use of wireless e-mail, online mapping and the Internet in general, as well as basic cellphone use. About 58 per cent of Canadians now have cellphones; in the U.S., the figure is 77 per cent and Britain, the Czech Republic and several other European countries have more than one such device per person.
This isn't just about people sending their siblings snapshots of their kids, as in the TV ads for iPhone. There are significant productivity aspects to mobile access for business. Companies that can't afford high rates must forego the enhanced connectivity that can speed up and improve business decisions. Economists have demonstrated that higher rates of use greatly encourage higher economic output. "While investors may be pleased," Videotron CEO Robert Depatie said in a speech last month, "consumers are being exploited and the country's productivity suffers." He's exactly right.
What remedies are there to this problem? The answer, as so often in Canada, would involve more competition, additional service providers willing to offer more mobile wireless capacity at prices closer to the global norm. But unfortunately that solution, also as so often in Canada, is politically difficult. The current providers, which compete so vigorously in clever advertising but so little in genuine price competition, are widely held companies doing pretty well from the status quo, thank you.
From time to time the federal government auctions off new wireless broadcasting spectrum, the virtual pipe through which data flow. Canada is already behind Europe, the U.S. and much of Asia in the roll-out of so-called third-generation wireless capability. It's vital that Ottawa get this right with the next auction.
Industry Minister Maxime Bernier has asked Canadians what principles should guide the next such auction. The obvious starting point, we believe, is more competition, beginning with the setting aside of spectrum for new entrants. Videotron, MTS-Allstream of Manitoba, and others large and small are interested in this market. Start-up costs are so high, though, that Ottawa must set encouraging conditions, not only with spectrum set-aside but in other ways, such as by allowing regional licences, instead of requiring a new player to operate coast-to-coast.
Bernier is said to be a true believer in competition. Here he has a chance to prove it.
Source: http://www.canada.com/
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