Wind Mobile, one of Canada’s new wireless companies, markets itself to the disaffected and disillusioned customers of Canada’s Big Three wireless guys. Part of the company’s shtick has been bashing the large companies every chance they get. At launch, Anthony Lacavera, the company’s chairman, said the Big Three had “set the bar low.”

And, most recently, at the Canadian Telecom Summit on June 9th, Mr. Lacavera said: “Trash-talking your local phone service provider has become almost as much of a national pastime in Canada as hockey.” e Wind.

Wind Mobile CEO Ken Campbell believes his new wireless company is ushering Canadian mobile users into a new era.

Wind Mobile, he says, will thrive because it is meeting some critical needs of mobile consumers.

Just five weeks following its entry into the Canadian market, Wind Mobile “became the number one company Canadians said they wanted to switch to,” Campbell noted.

Wind Mobile CEO Ken Campbell believes his new wireless company is ushering Canadian mobile users into a new era.

Wind Mobile, he says, will thrive because it is meeting some critical needs of mobile consumers.

Just five weeks following its entry into the Canadian market, Wind Mobile “became the number one company Canadians said they wanted to switch to,” Campbell noted.

Canadians are clamoring for better options when it comes to wireless providers and actively engaging dissatisfied customers is the best way to guarantee success in an increasingly competitive market, according to the chief executive officer of a mobile startup.

“The Canadian market is small enough that we have to encroach on each other’s territory, we have to compete,” said Ken Campbell, CEO of WIND Mobile, speaking to the Canadian Club of Toronto at The Sutton Place Hotel on Monday.

A telco executive touts the benefits of a wireless modem, but a Wind Mobile representative says the wide availability of wireless doesn’t mean telecom regulation should end.

Simply put, Anthony Lacavera is as strong a speaker as he is a tireless CEO. Since the notorious spectrum auction of 2008 he has maintained confidence and composure in the strong face of wireless adversity that is the Canadian telecom industry. What makes the delivery of this speech so powerful is the fact that WIND has only been live for 6 months (June 11th officially) and to now they have lived up to each promise made on their “conversation” blog (ie. no contracts or any hidden fees), in which he and his marketing team are extremely active.

He declared aggravation with how Canadian customers are still paying 2.2% more than those of our American counterparts; how we as an industry are limited to fewer hardware choices and plans; that we are last in wireless penetration among 30 countries worldwide; and, in his words, “trash talking our national carriers has become as much of a Canadian past time as hockey.”

Christine Persaud

Published: 06/08/2010 02:58:14 PM UTC in Features

The theme of regulation is a central one at the Canadian Telecom Conference in Toronto, ON this week, fueled in large part by the entrance of new wireless carriers and issues of foreign ownership; but also due to convergence in the technology industry.

As several key industry folks noted during a panel discussion earlier this morning called The Regulatory Blockbuster, adjustments in foreign ownership within the telecom sector can’t be accomplished without also considering the broadcasting sector as a whole. After all, convergence is upon us in full force. And aside from telecommunications being considered a part of broadcast, the Internet, TV, and mobile all intersect with one another in ways we never could have anticipated 20 years ago.

All key players agree that allowing foreign investments in the telecom sector is a good thing. Whether they like it or not, as indicated in the Honourable Industry Minister Tony Clement’s keynote yesterday, the Canadian government is working toward doing just that. But the incumbent wireless carriers, Rogers, Bell and Telus, want equal rights for all, while the new carriers feel that without some sort of advantage, they’ll never be able to compete effectively. It’s an argument we’ve been knocked over the head with again and again over the past year with the Globalive/WIND Mobile and Orascom Telecom situation. But one that players feel very passionate about.

*CRTC head says the two can’t be treated separately

*Sees risk to Canadian content rules on broadcasters

*Incumbents back CRTC, say their networks not for hire

*Newcomer stresses need to gain access to foreign capital (Adds comment from telecom and broadcasting operators in paragraphs 7-9, 13, 16-19)

By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO, June 8 (Reuters) – Canada’s telecom and broadcast industries are tightly linked and the government should not consider them separately in any legislative changes, the chairman of the regulatory body covering both sectors said on Tuesday.

“I don’t think you can meaningfully separate broadcasting and telecom in the age of convergence,” Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), said at an telecom industry conference in Toronto.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said on Monday the government would soon launch a consultation paper on opening up Canada’s telecom industry to more foreign involvement while retaining protection for the broadcasting sector.

Wind Mobile launched in Vancouver on Thursday with a lineup of people outside its Yaletown store looking for lower-cost wireless service.

“I’m going to be a new Wind customer,” said Winston Yuen, who was at the Davie Street location, where Wind chairman Tony Lacavera announced Vancouver marks the sixth city in the new wireless entrant’s rollout across Canada. “I want something that doesn’t bind you to a contract. Wind is very flexible and consumer friendly.

Contract-free service is the main draw of B.C.’s first new mobile phone provider in over a decade, said two Surrey residents who made the trip to Yaletown for Thursday’s launch of the Wind Network in Vancouver.

“Spotty coverage (in Surrey) would still be better than contracts,” said Herman Dhillon.

His friend Nigel Joseph said his current carrier charged him $400 in $20 increments as a cancellation fee, and then sent a collection agency to recoup the funds. He’s switching in hopes of avoiding a similar situation in the future.