After three years in Canada, WIND Mobile has managed to build up a subscriber base of 560,000 users, which makes it the fourth largest carrier in the country. Rogers, TELUS and Bell still hold 91% of the wireless market compared to new wireless entrants.
WIND Mobile’s chief operating officer, Pietro Cordova, in an interview with the Edmonton Journal noted his thoughts on the Canadian wireless market and how WIND sees itself.
“I believe the Canadian market is a slow market so it’s up to us to keep on delivering so more and more people will actually trust us,”
He also stated Canadians tend to rely more on Wi-Fi compared to Europeans. As for the three year plans offered by the wireless incumbents? They are slowing down the market according to Cordova:
“Here, buying a phone is almost like buying a car because you know you’re tied to that phone for three years.”
When asked about the iPhone 5, Cordova did not mention it as an important factor for the company, even though they can’t sell it due to network compatibility issues.
“The iPhone 5, or iPhone in general, is not a huge factor for us. Clearly, our customer base is not necessarily a customer base that is entirely interested in those kinds of phones.”
Is that true? WIND customers aren’t interested in smartphones like the iPhone 5, yet they are interested in the Galaxy S III?
He goes on to mention how the iPhone 5 launch released pent up demand for smartphones, as many users were waiting to see what Apple’s next iPhone would entail. There were no slow downs in sales but there were weeks when the Samsung Galaxy S III was the selling really well, as customers held off until they knew it was the “best” choice.
As for WIND’s lack of LTE? Cordova says it “solves congestion problems” which they don’t have yet, and noted their HSPA+ speeds are comparable to Rogers, Bell and TELUS. But in order to prepare for expanding their network, WIND needs to ensure they have a “clear roadmap to acquire new spectrum.”
If there was an iPhone that supported WIND Mobile’s AWS network, you can bet people would switch over in a heartbeat. But the problem is these newer carriers can’t compete against Rogers, TELUS and Bell when it comes to marketing since the latter group can easily flaunt the iPhone to eager customers.
The Financial Post earlier estimated Rogers had signed up 40,000 people during the iPhone 5 launch–these are the numbers WIND Mobile would see in a three month fiscal quarter. You can’t tell me people wouldn’t be all over WIND or Mobilicity if these newer carriers had the iPhone.
If WIND Mobile or Mobilicity offered the iPhone, would you make the switch?
