Telus takeover of Mobilicity | Other carriers | Consumer forum

Please consider registering
guest

sp_LogInOut Log In sp_Registration Register

Register | Lost password?
sp_Feed Topic RSS sp_TopicIcon
Telus takeover of Mobilicity
June 3, 2013
10:18 am
fefrie
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 224
Member Since:
August 13, 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

For all the complaining people do about cellphone companies awful price gouging tactics, they sure don't put their money where their mouth is.

People are just plain unreasonable and want masterful customer service, perfect coverage, and supercheap service, all right now.

If they waited, gave the non3 a chance and put up with some kinks along the way, we would have had some viable competition later down the road. Yes it will take years but we were supposed to be patient.

Does anybody remember when Telus/Shaw internet was REALLY bad? That's because they were building infrastructure. Now look at them. They charge ridiculous rates for internet. We knew that they were bad, but we put up with them because they were the only internet choice, and paid their high rates, and they got better and now we're paying through the nose.

The only difference with these new cell phone company startups is that they started at a huge disadvantage, and compensated with low rates. Which unfortunately attracts bottom feeders like this lady.

http://youtu.be/kIahjndX2Ao

Now I understand that customer service might be obligated to provide a new cable, but seriously lady, me personally, it would not be worth my time and gas to get a cable you can buy for $1.50 online shipped to your door, plus the cables are universal. This lady waited six months to complain about a $1.50 cable.

It's funny because sites like dealextreme.com sell a lot of poorly made stuff that people describe, but they put up with it because it's cheap and functionally it works.

June 4, 2013
5:43 pm
Peter
BC
Admin
Forum Posts: 639
Member Since:
March 31, 2007
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

A bit of a surprise (to me) that the Canadian government has now blocked the takeover, but the decision sure makes sense!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/busines.....eless.html

June 15, 2013
4:20 am
SND253
Toronto
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 36
Member Since:
September 20, 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

It's a bad rulling which will do nothing to create competition. Mobilicity will eventually go under and the their network will be picked up at a fire sale price, probably much cheaper tahn Telus would have paid. It's possible Telus even made the offer convinced in advance that it would be blocked – just to bump Mobilicity one step closer to the end of the plank so they can line up for the eventual clearence sale.

If the CRTC cared at all about competition, they wouldn't have condemned Mobilicity to only 1700/2100 Mhz.

It's like telling a car manufacturer "OK you can sell cars in Canada. But only ones with no wipers, manual transmission and engines under 800cc".

This whole thing is a 3 or 4 year charade disguised to the public as enabling competition while the true purpose was to sabotage competition and make examples which will deter future players from thinking about it.

June 16, 2013
12:43 am
bridonca
Moderator
Moderators
Forum Posts: 1201
Member Since:
April 22, 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Mobilcity was never financed well enough to make a go of it. They paid top dollar for gear and real estate, and were horridly under financed because of government restrictions on foreign investment (heavily lobbied for by the big 3). When the restrictions were eventually lifted, foreign investment dried up after the market meltdown. So the network will now be either refinanced, or liquidated, and taken over by Canadian companies that are very good at handling tight resources. I can think of 2 companies that could do the job.

Fongo seemed to be interested in the network, but I suspect they do not want to pay top dollar for the company. Fongo has demonstrated they could run a business profitably with very few resources, and a low amount of income. Mobilcity would be a great acquisition for them, if they can get it for the right price.

Eastlink also looks to be a good suitor. It takes gall to set up a cell network that serves 2 million people, spread over 3 provinces. Although it took 5 years, Eastlink now has the largest LTE network of any carrier in Canada. So if you got an unlocked LTE phone that works on the big 3, it works with Eastlink. The next iPhone should also work with Eastlink, which was a sore point against Wind and Mobilcity. Because they waited, Eastlink ended up paying bottom dollar for their network. Though they really had no choice. Eastlink knows who their core customer is, and how many of them there are. But in those 5 years, Eastlink was not sitting around. They were building up infrastructure, slowly, but cheaply. And the company has a very good balance sheet. So could Eastlink take over Mobilcity? My guess is yes, if they can get it in a couple of years time, but probably not now.