3. WIND Mobile breathes some fresh air into Canada’s wireless industry. It was touch and go there for a while, but in the end, Canada got its first new wireless carrier in 10 years. It was a roller coaster sort of year for WIND Mobile and parent company Globalive Wireless Management Corp. After emerging as the big winner from 2008′s spectrum auction, Globalive appeared to be on the fast track to launching a new national wireless network to compete with incumbents BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. as the summer wound down.

Consumers will have more choice as Canada’s wireless landscape heats up with new cellphone companies expected to offer more than price to charm them in or out of a contract. For the first time in about a decade, new cellphone companies will be courting consumers in a bid to win business away from major competitors Rogers, Bell and Telus.

Tony Clement did his best last week not to put himself at the centre of an uproar over Canadian ownership of sensitive parts of the economy. The industry minister announced that the federal cabinet was letting Toronto-based Globalive into the Canadian cellphone business, overturning the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s earlier ruling that the Egyptian-financed company failed to meet Canadian control rules.

….In a ruling this month, the Canadian and Radio-television Telecommunications Commission found that Globalive Communications, the wannabe mobile provider, does not meet Canadian ownership requirements. Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, while not the controlling shareholder in name, owns 65% of Globalive’s equity and almost all of its $500-million debt. If there’s one thing we know about Canadian telecom law, it’s that “infrastructure is key, and Canadians have to own it,” says Marianne DeMonte-Whelan, a consultant with Delan Group.

Canada’s newest national wireless provider officially launched in Calgary on Friday, opening seven retail locations across the city. As a part of the official launch, Wind Mobile unveiled an 8-foot monument outside of the 17th Avenue store location as a tribute to the tens of thousands of Canadians whose conversations “helped to shape Canada’s first truly competitive wireless alternative”, the company said in a press release.

WIND Mobile, Canadian’s fourth “national” wireless carrier, now has service up and running in Calgary, AB. Services launched in Toronto, ON last week.

C algarians looking for a new cellphone plan have another option to check out with the launch of Wind Mobile in the city. The subsidiary of Egypt-based Globalive Holdings opened seven stores on Friday, just in time for last-minute holiday gift shoppers, and boasts what many customers are looking for, such as no activation or system access fee, no penalties for cancelling a plan and no charge for incoming text

WIND Mobile blew into the city on Friday, offering discount wireless services to Calgarians. The mobile company is the newest national wireless provider to launch in Canada in a decade and opened four retail stores in the city.

Canada’s wireless industry has been a “cosy duopoly, oligarchy for a long, long time,” says the CEO of the company that’s vowing to heat up the competition in the Great White North. WIND Mobile launched its Alberta service in Calgary yesterday, one week after Ottawa gave parent company Globalive the nod to operate in Canada.

Brampton residents will now be able to access a new choice in wireless services with the opening of a brand new Wind Mobile store at the Bramalea City Centre (BCC). The store opened its doors this week on what company officials say was an historic day for wireless customers in Canada.