By The Canadian Press - For Business Edge
Published: 10/17/2008 - Vol. 5, No. 21
Telecom rivals BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T) say they will work together to develop third- and fourth-generation wireless networks.
The companies said they are each working to launch the 4G LTE technology as it becomes available by early 2010.
In the interim, they have entered a network sharing agreement that will develop high speed packet access (HSPA) technology, a version of the GSM technology used by Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B).
The agreement allows both companies to lower the cost and increase the speed of the build-out of the national network.
It also could allow them to run trendy new smartphones such as the iPhone and Blackberry Bold, which are now only available in Canada with Rogers.
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said the technology evolution is a win for Canadian consumers.
so I have two cells phones with citywest and I think I’m going to keep one; I did the pay as you go and I use about 1 to 4 dollars a day on it but the wife uses 10 a day, so in 10 to 12 days I would have to buy her another 500 MIN at 100.00 a pop not worth it.
I might even switch to Rogers we will see in the mext few months…
I will see what is good in late June when my contract expires. The deal breaker for me will be if all of BC goes GSM and my freaking CDMA phone doesn’t work when I leave town for my summer holidays:-) If that happens I’ll get a Rogers unit or a 7-11 pay-as-you-go phone.
Meh, they’re gonna keep the CDMA network up for a few more years, something like 2014 or 2012.
It’s not like they are going to completely alienate millions of customers.
Plus I’d prolly just get a new phone anyways. I hear they are gonna try to get Apples G4 phone.
If I were to walk into, say, a Wireless Wave store, would they still sell me a long-term contract for a CDMA phones/networks?
It would be like in the States, how they are making (made? I don’t know if it already happened) the transition to digital cablevision. Could you sign someone up for analog cable with a low-low introductory rate with a 3 year obligation just a few months before the cutoff date, and they would find out 3 months later that analog cable was terminated and they would have to change their service? The optimist in me hopes that there would be some easy, painless, cheap way to transition a contract like that, but the cynic in me says ‘caveat emptor’.
I’m sure they’re not going to just turn off their CDMA networks right away. I mean, there are still analog networks operating. So I doubt your phone will stop working.
It will be past 2010 before the 4G stuff is working anyway. I was talking about the interim step they’re taking. They’re going to be rolling out a GSM network pretty quick.
There’s been a lot of shit outside PG when that’s exactly what Telus did. Turned off the analog and FORCED people to change. Then again, that seems about as awful as turning off your dialup and forcing you to buy DSL for the same price…
(actually the digital stuff means a few people will be out of range until new repeaters are added or the customers use booster antennas)
Don’t get too excited though, if they roll it out in 2010 they’re talking Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver. It will take a while to make it to the boonies.
