As many Canadians are familiar with expensive cell phone plans offered by mainly three main providers, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, hopefully some of the new up-and-coming providers can hopefully provide some lower prices to increase the competition.

Most of the new providers hoping to enter into the market will be offering HSPA networks and deploying them in major metropolitan cities. WIND, Public Mobile, Videotron (Ontario/Quebec only), and another one possibly named after everyone’s friend, DAVE Wireless.

WIND mobile recently made Canadian news headlines as the CRTC has denied the further use of WIND’s license due to its parent company, Globalive, being majority owned by an Egyptian firm. Apparently under the Canada Telecommunications Act, any wireless carrier in Canada must be 80% owned by Canadians. Of course rogers/bell/telus jumped to the CRTC right away to point this out. They don’t want anyone impeding their oligopoly.

Anyways, I won’t bore you with what the media hasn’t already spoken about. Feel free to read the links below for more information about WIND, Globalive and the CRTC ruling.
BTW, my take on the CRTC is that they need to be abolished or restructured. They are outdated and inconsistent.

Globe and Mail – Globalive fails ownership test: CRTC
WIND Mobile Official Website
Boy Genious Report – BGR Sits down with WIND CEO Ken Campbell
CBC News – CRTC says no to Globalive