I really REALLY hope this isn't true ....

[rjwells]

Isnt there an "incumbents cant buy new carriers for 5 years" thing? What happened to that?

Shaw is not an incumbent in the wireless market. I don't know how that prohibition is worded though, whether it would prohibit ANY telecoms company from buying them.

I have no objection to Shaw buying Mobilicity... so long as they continue to respect my rate plan!

Shaw would bring an infusion of capital that would presumably see an accelerated build out of the network. How is that bad?

At the end of the day you are DREAMING if you think Mobilicity is going to have rock bottom prices forever. They have rock bottom prices now because they are trying to get as many subscribers as they can while they build out in the early days. Eventually they will stabilize.

Whether they're bought by someone else, or just grow, sooner or later they WILL raise prices. In fact already have.. you can't get the old deals anymore. That's going to continue.

However so long as they aren't bought by one of the big3 this is STILL a good thing: It means increased competition, and increased competition is the ONLY thing that is going to lower prices--at all companies.

[Fenrry]

...hmmm, the way I read it was "Shaw is about to pull out and is looking to share assets or give assets to another company, maybe Mobi", don't see how Shaw will buy Mobi, Mobi has an established Network in constant growth while Shaw doesn't even have a cell operation in place (to the point of not even knowing when will they a green light).

If Shaw did in fact buy Mobi, it will be backed by Rogers and approved by ur old friend the CRTC, then we can say for sure that the whole cellphone market in Canada is rigged and that we need a RoBellution.

[xtachx]

...hmmm, the way I read it was "Shaw is about to pull out and is looking to share assets or give assets to another company, maybe Mobi", don't see how Shaw will buy Mobi, Mobi has an established Network in constant growth while Shaw doesn't even have a cell operation in place (to the point of not even knowing when will they a green light).

If Shaw did in fact buy Mobi, it will be backed by Rogers and approved by ur old friend the CRTC, then we can say for sure that the whole cellphone market in Canada is rigged and that we need a RoBellution.

Well thats how I read it too - mobi might be willing to buy shaw towers and spectrum perhaps.

The idea of a "RoBellution" is hilarious!

[cmstlist]

...hmmm, the way I read it was "Shaw is about to pull out and is looking to share assets or give assets to another company, maybe Mobi", don't see how Shaw will buy Mobi, Mobi has an established Network in constant growth while Shaw doesn't even have a cell operation in place (to the point of not even knowing when will they a green light).

If Shaw did in fact buy Mobi, it will be backed by Rogers and approved by ur old friend the CRTC, then we can say for sure that the whole cellphone market in Canada is rigged and that we need a RoBellution.

How is it that Rogers would back a Shaw-Mobi deal? Why would Shaw ask its future competition for that kind of help?

Yes, Shaw doesn't have cell operations. But they still have more customers (cable + Internet + home phone) than Mobilicity. They also own TV channels. Shaw is by far a big enough company to have the resources to buy out a new entrant.

If Shaw buys Mobi or an interest in it, they have the opportunity to take their purchased spectrum and instantly deploy it on towers that have already been put up in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. The data speeds on Mobi could instantly double or better with more bandwidth. Meanwhile Shaw, which already has other types of infrastructure all across Western Canada, would be in a position to help Mobi deploy towers more rapidly in new markets in Western Canada.

And don't forget that Mobi already owns spectrum in many BC&AB markets they haven't tapped yet. So working with Shaw gives them the capacity to double up on that bandwidth in a lot of places.

I don't necessarily think a buyout would be good for the wireless market, but I think it makes perfect sense from Shaw's angle.

[Fenrry]

The way things are and the history of Shaw, a deal with Rogers is very likely, besides is not like Shaw lacks similarities with RoBell, just look at the not too far away history, on the other hand Mobi already has a business in place and know the deals, may not be as big of a telco but has more ground in the cell field than Shaw, besides a lot of ppl will dump them, most users of Mobi are with Mobi cause they are nothing like the old companies, like Shaw!

[robsaw]

Well thats how I read it too - mobi might be willing to buy shaw towers and spectrum perhaps.

Shaw doesn't have towers to share or sell and Mobi doesn't need more spectrum it needs capital funding to deploy networks on the spectrum it already has.

[xtachx]

Shaw doesn't have towers to share or sell and Mobi doesn't need more spectrum it needs capital funding to deploy networks on the spectrum it already has.

Read this: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sha...359/story.html

IT says SHAW got in conflic with a church over its cell tower placement. This means that shaw did place some towers. Now that they dont want to build their wireless business they want to dump this on someone... (and recoup some costs)

[keyzink]

Look at it this way. Shaw can either spend X amount of money building out their own network, or spend about the same (maybe a little more) to buy a controlling stake in Mobilicity. Now Shaw knows it cannot possibly hope to gain enough subscribers unless it enters into a price war with the new entrants. So, instead of going through the hassle of acquiring and building out cell sites, why not acquire someone like mobi who will have done all the hard work for them, and already has an established subscriber base.

Mobilicity to me has always seemed like its positioned for a takeover. Their super-discount rate plans, and not expanding home zones beyond the densely populated city cores reek of a strategy to quickly acquire subscribers to make them appealing to a buyer.

[rjwells]

As much as we all hate Shaw, being a company that has behaved sometimes poorly in areas where it's had a cable monopoly, being purely objective I can't see any downside to Shaw buying Mobilicity. At the end of the day that acquisition would ratchet up wireless competition in Canada. We might even wind up with the "big 4" instead of the "big 3". How's that bad? Wasn't it always the hope that one of the new entrants would grow into a serious national competitor?

Whatever the state of the network Shaw was attempting to build, the effect of the acquisition would be a faster build out of the Mobilicity network. In the areas where Shaw has a lot of customers they would also bring cross-sell opportunities and brand recognition that would more rapidly pump up the number of subscribers.

[icemasta]

As much as we all hate Shaw, being a company that has behaved sometimes poorly in areas where it's had a cable monopoly, being purely objective I can't see any downside to Shaw buying Mobilicity. At the end of the day that acquisition would ratchet up wireless competition in Canada. We might even wind up with the "big 4" instead of the "big 3". How's that bad? Wasn't it always the hope that one of the new entrants would grow into a serious national competitor?

Whatever the state of the network Shaw was attempting to build, the effect of the acquisition would be a faster build out of the Mobilicity network. In the areas where Shaw has a lot of customers they would also bring cross-sell opportunities and brand recognition that would more rapidly pump up the number of subscribers.

I don't think the statement is to do with the buyout allowing Mobi to have more capital, but its more to do with the if the morale would change with a majority buyout from a big corporation.

Lets be honest, Mobi was the one that started offering the competitive rates that many of us are on now. Wind probably would not have matched Mobilicity's rate ever had Mobilicity not made such a sting in the market.

What Im trying to say is that the mindset of a large corporation is more about profits and margins than a smaller player like Mobilicity which has been more about offering competitive rates and obviously to generate cash flow.

This situation could be similar to Fido and Rogers where Fido was offering great rates on a mediocre network and Rogers eventually buying them out and getting rid of their City Fido and Unlimited Data plans. This is not say Shaw would do the same but in all honesty I wouldnt doubt Mobilicity plans being $5 or even $10 more expensive due to a buyout from a big corporation.

[rjwells]

I guarantee you that the mindset at Mobilicity was always just as much about profits and margins as Bell or Rogers. Not being the incumbent, Mobilicity had to look for creative new ways to achieve profits and margins, but all their efforts and strategies have all always been about earning a buck. They figured there was an opportunity to compete on price, to make that buck, and so they went for it.

It's great, I'm a customer, and the service and the price are right for me--but don't dress it up as something it isn't. At the end of the day different players going after different market niches is just one of the very good benefits of a competitive market.

[robsaw]

Read this: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sha...359/story.html

IT says SHAW got in conflic with a church over its cell tower placement. This means that shaw did place some towers. Now that they dont want to build their wireless business they want to dump this on someone... (and recoup some costs)

Shaw has built no towers. They've made plans and negotiated locations for towers, including this shared site with a church, which isn't a conflict with the church, it was a negotiation that hasn't been concluded. Any conflict was with the residents over the proposed location.

[icemasta]

I guarantee you that the mindset at Mobilicity was always just as much about profits and margins as Bell or Rogers. Not being the incumbent, Mobilicity had to look for creative new ways to achieve profits and margins, but all their efforts and strategies have all always been about earning a buck. They figured there was an opportunity to compete on price, to make that buck, and so they went for it.

It's great, I'm a customer, and the service and the price are right for me--but don't dress it up as something it isn't. At the end of the day different players going after different market niches is just one of the very good benefits of a competitive market.

I disagree on that statement. While yes they are here to make a profit without a doubt, but saying theyre all about margins isnt completely correct.

When they introduced the $35 FnF and the $40 Promo plan, those rates were half of what Wind charged at the time and obviously no comparison to the Big 3s plans. If its was all about margins they could easily charged slightly more and got a welcomed response. Lets be honest, they were the ones to start the price war between the carriers. Even Mobilicitys international rates are very competitive compared to almost all the wireless carriers.

I will not disagree that theyre not stupid in not making good margins on the plans already but stating it in the way the Big 3 operate is what I disagree about. Im happy as much are you for the great price and service but I just wanted to state my opinion on the matter.

[mjhf]

I disagree on that statement. While yes they are here to make a profit without a doubt, but saying theyre all about margins isnt completely correct.

When they introduced the $35 FnF and the $40 Promo plan, those rates were half of what Wind charged at the time and obviously no comparison to the Big 3s plans. If its was all about margins they could easily charged slightly more and got a welcomed response. Lets be honest, they were the ones to start the price war between the carriers. Even Mobilicitys international rates are very competitive compared to almost all the wireless carriers.

I will not disagree that theyre not stupid in not making good margins on the plans already but stating it in the way the Big 3 operate is what I disagree about. Im happy as much are you for the great price and service but I just wanted to state my opinion on the matter.

You forget, though, that the $35 FnF plan wasn't originally intended for public consumption. It was originally offered on Howard Forums as a way to get some well connected people "in the know" to answer a survey about their service. It was then offered to the general public for a short period of time, I conjecture to generate some cash flow to meet financial commitments. It then became a price war with Wind Mobile, which they both no doubt wanted to get out of as soon as they could. Let's face it, nobody's going to build an empire on $35/month.

Those of us that got in on the great deal, let's count our blessings.

[xtachx]

You forget, though, that the $35 FnF plan wasn't originally intended for public consumption. It was originally offered on Howard Forums as a way to get some well connected people "in the know" to answer a survey about their service. It was then offered to the general public for a short period of time, I conjecture to generate some cash flow to meet financial commitments. It then became a price war with Wind Mobile, which they both no doubt wanted to get out of as soon as they could. Let's face it, nobody's going to build an empire on $35/month.

Those of us that got in on the great deal, let's count our blessings.

Well it wasnt just for HoFO - all the dealers had the pamphlets too. When I called in to customer care on a completely different matter they even told me "by the way - you should change to 35FnF plan - its same as your 40FnF plan just $5 less"