Microcell Telecommunications Inc. is expected to be first to offer commercial personal communications services in Canada, launching in at least two cities by September, predicts the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research and consulting group.
Four companies recently won PCS licenses in Canada. Recipients of 30-megahertz national PCS licenses were Clearnet PCS Inc. of Pickering, Ontario, and Microcell of Montreal. Toronto-based Rogers Cantel Mobile Inc. won a 10-megahertz national license and Mobility Canada won regional 10-megahertz licenses to be operated by its 11 provincial members.
In “License Night in Canada: PCS Frequencies Awarded,” the Yankee Group points out Industry Canada’s swiftness in licensing PCS players. The procedure was announced in August, applications due in September, and winners selected in December.
“Clearnet did an excellent job of courting Industry Canada,” said the Yankee Group, “stressing its innovative ESMR [enhanced specialized mobile radio] Canada Business Network.”
Microcell submitted a multimedia application focusing on a consumer approach and the company’s Quebec background.
Each of the 10-megahertz winners, Cantel and Mobility Canada, hold 25 megahertz for their nationwide cellular networks. Industry Canada rules forbid players from owning more than 40 megahertz of spectrum, a provision to be re-examined in about three years.
The Yankee Group expects Microcell will be first to market. Plans to use Global System for Mobile communications technology provides Microcell a time-to-market advantage, the firm added. Cantel plans to use Time Division Multiple Access technology with infrastructure supplied by L.M. Ericsson. The Yankee Group said Cantel likely will introduce some enhanced services soon and market a complete PCS package by the end of the year.
Once Mobility Canada and Clearnet select a technology and equipment vendor, the Yankee Group expects they both will roll out service rapidly. Choosing CDMA would delay time-to-market between six months and a year, added the group.
Industry Canada originally apportioned spectrum for three each 30-megahertz and 10-megahertz PCS operators. For 30-megahertz licenses, the Yankee Group said the government believed three operators would “crowd the market and force a shake-out.” As such, “TeleZone was the odd man out.”
Investors and experts alike-the Yankee Group no exception-forecast TeleZone would win a license. Bell Atlantic Corp. and AirTouch Communications Inc. backed TeleZone.
“TeleZone … stressed its relationship with AirTouch and Bell Atlantic (indeed, several key TeleZone executives came from these companies), and its network as the Canadian extension of PCS PrimeCo [L.P.’s] U.S. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)-based network,” stated the YankeeWatch report. “Perhaps these were the wrong buttons to push with Industry Canada.”
LanSer Personal Communications was a favored PCS candidate, too, backed by AT&T Wireless Services and Helix Investments. “LanSer was a late entrant to the broadband PCS game and its business plan might not have been as developed as that of Microcell and Clearnet,” stated the YankeeWatch report.
