Why are Canadian mobile phone companies so behind?

[Fok]

Looking at getting a new cell phone with my current provider (Telus). After searching around, I found that in the states they've got phones that have been out for a while (i.e Samsung A990 or LG8300). Why can't the Canadian companies keep up with the times?

One sales person told me that it could take a year from some of these phones to hit the Canadian market

 

[snowles]

1. Because the market isn't as large. There's 30 different cell carriers in the States, and the only way for them to differentiate is to carry a wide and varrying number of cell phones. It doesn't prove to work the same here; they go with proven phones that people will buy.

2. The United States (and Rogers/Fido) uses GSM technology, while Telus uses older CDMA technology. For the US phones to work, they need to have extra circuitry added to make them function. This takes time, as it has to be done at the manufacturing level, and they will only usually do it when the phone is a proven seller and there is a visible market.

 

[Blackleaf]

The world's largest mobile phones company is Vodaphone, a British company based in Newbury, Berkshire.

It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about £86 billion (November 2006). Vodafone currently has equity interests in 27 countries and Partner Networks (networks in which it has no equity stake) in a further 33 countries. Its portfolio of global services, supported by its global brand, is available in a total of 59 countries.

The name Vodafone comes from Voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones."[1]
At 30 June 2006 Vodafone had 186.8 million proportionate customers in 27 markets across 5 continents. [5] ("Proportionate customers" means, for example, that if Vodafone has a 30% stake in a business with a million customers, that is counted as 300,000). On this measure it is the second-largest mobile telecom group in the world behind China Mobile.

The six markets where it has more than ten million proportionate customers are the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

 

[chaarger]

The Canadian Wireless market is an Oligopoly practicing "disciplined competition" or co-opetition.

We need more competition in the Canadian wireless market.
Learn how to ensure that we get more competition at this site - TeleGopoly.com

The Telegopoly.com objective is to educate Canadians about the Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) Auction which will be happening next year.

Next year, Industry Canada will hold the AWS Auction. Industry Canada set up a call for comments which ran from mid-February to May 25, 2007. Unfortunately the Call for Comments was not well advertised and the only time the press spoke about the process in any really visible manner was near the end of the process. It is now too late to make commments.

The Department will also provide interested parties with the opportunity to reply to comments from other parties. Reply comments will be accepted until June 27, 2007. We as consumers must be heard! It is important to rebutt comments made by business organizations which are acting as defacto lobby groups for the incumbent carriers.

The carriers want "free market" open auctions via which the incumbent carriers will be able to outspend potential market entrants which could bring innovation and competition to the Canadian market.

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