BMV mobility firm challenges Bell, Telus, Rogers
p2pnet news view | Mobiles:- It came out of nowhere, says the Montreal Gazette.
“While analysts and the media focused on Videotron’s bid to build a fourth carrier in the province, BMV slipped under the radar.”
BMV Holdings boss Alek Krstajic, an ex-Rogers and Bell Canada executive, says he can push mobility service numbers to match those of the rest of the developed world – 80 to 90 per cent.
And that, says the story, is because the company, “bought a chunk of wireless spectrum that was considered useless during Industry Canada’s auction last summer”.
The G Band, in the 1.9-GHz range, “has little support from equipment makers, so it was ignored by the big three incumbents – Bell, Telus and Rogers,” says the story continuing »»»
BMV Holdings, bidding under the name 6934579 Canada Inc., paid $52 million for the airwaves, while the incumbents paid as much as $500 million for equivalent blocks in “mainstream” frequencies.
SeaBoard Group, a telecom research firm, said in a report the G-block “may well have been the buy-of-the-decade.”
PCS G Band covering almost 19-million Canadians
Krstajic says he spent more than nine years at Rogers Cable, joining Bell Canada, eventually being appointed president of Bell Mobility in 2005.
BMV was created in July following its purchase in Industry Canada’s wireless spectrum auction of PCS G Band covering almost 19-million Canadians in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor across Ontario and Quebec, says a BMV statement, adding:
“The G Band spectrum is an extension of the existing PCS spectrum in the 1.9 GHz range and shares the same characteristics as that currently used by wireless carriers across North America.
“At a price of only $52 million, the PCS G Band spectrum will enable BMV to deliver a cost-efficient consumer wireless offering to underserved Canadians.”
Montreal Gazette – New player in mobility battle, October 30, 2008
BMV – New wireless entrant BMV Holdings Names Former Bell Mobility President as CEO, October 30, 2008
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October 31st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Oy my eyes are off .. I kept seeing “BMW” during the article, plus ‘undeserved’ canadians instead of underserved at the end. Competition may be a good for the undeserving canadians