Mobile ad market to triple by 2017: Gartner

Global spending on mobile advertising is forecast to triple in the four years between 2013 and 2017, Gartner Inc. said Tuesday.

The research company said in a release mobile advertising spending would be $41.9 billion US in 2017. That compares to $13.1 billion US in 2013 and its forecast of $18 billion US for this year.

Verizon earnings rise, wireless growth outpaces other operations

Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday reported higher fourth-quarter earnings as revenue in its wireless business rose faster than its other operations, which also include Internet, television and home-phone service.

New U.S. military program to support 80,000 BlackBerrys: reports

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency will use about 80,000 BlackBerry Ltd. devices on a new mobile communications system to be launched at the end of January, news agencies reported Monday.

The agency said in a release Thursday that the first phase of a new initiative to provide mobile capabilities to as many as 100,000 users in the Department of Defense will be ready on Jan. 31.

Eastlink opens Nova Scotia data centre

Eastlink has opened a data centre in Sambro, N.S., the company said in a release Monday.

Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) said the Pennant Point Data Centre is currently operational and serving customers in Atlantic Canada.

It is Eastlink’s second data centre, following its centre in Bermuda, which serves multinational finance and insurance companies and the government of Bermuda, according to the release.

Three-operator wireless markets ideal, says consultancy

A British-based consultancy to the telecommunications and media sectors said Monday that three is the ideal number of operators to have in a wireless market, and that this is something regulators around the world are starting to realize.

“A consensus is emerging in the mobile communications industry that three is the optimum number of mobile operators for any given market,” Informa Telecoms & Media said in a press release.

Mobile app operations employ 21K in Ontario: study

There are about 21,000 people in Ontario whose jobs are related to the development and distribution of mobile applications, the Information and Communications Technology Council said in a report released Thursday.

The report predicted that figure would increase by 51 per cent to 32,000 by 2018.

The ICTC said about 40 per cent of the current jobs related to mobile apps are in the Greater Toronto Area, 30 per cent are in Ottawa and 15 per cent in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Sprint gets bank advice on buying T-Mobile: WSJ

Sprint Corp. has received advice from at least two different banks on how to finance a buyout of T-Mobile US Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, quoting two anonymous sources.

While one source said that the terms of any bid have not been finalized, both sources said the anticipated acquisition attempt would value T-Mobile at about $50 billion US, which would include absorbing about $20 billion US in debt.

CRTC chair says he shares ‘philosophy’ with James Moore

CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in a magazine article that hits newsstands Monday that he and Industry Minister James Moore share a similar “philosophy” about consumer affordability and service issues in the telecommunications sector.

Spectrum auction withdrawal a ‘headwind’ to surging Wind, experts say

Wind Mobile’s chief executive says the company is surging in the absence of stable new entrant competitors, though experts warn it will face a “headwind” soon without access to 700 MHz spectrum.

“I was very happy to see the growth of Wind in Q4 without smaller competitors Mobilicity and Public [Mobile Inc.] out in the market,” Wind CEO Anthony Lacavera said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

“We certainly have emerged as the fourth carrier,” he added.

Wind auction withdrawal good for Feenix: experts

John Bitove’s Feenix Wireless Inc. could have access to prime spectrum at lower prices following the withdrawal of Globalive Wireless Management Corp., owner of Wind Mobile, from the 700 MHz auction that starts Tuesday, industry experts said.

Phablets to drive mobile data growth, cord-cutting at ‘tipping point’: Deloitte

Increased sales of larger, “phablet” smartphones will drive growth in mobile data consumption in 2014 as more consumers use the bigger devices to watch more mobile TV, consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLP said in its annual media and technology predictions.

In predictions released Tuesday, Deloitte said larger smartphones with screen sizes between five and 6.9 inches will account for 25 per cent of global smartphone sales in 2014, totalling about 300 million phablets sold worldwide, or about twice as many as in 2013.

Smaller 2500 MHz licences to benefit rural providers, Industry Canada says

Industry Canada will auction off 2500 MHz spectrum licences in April 2015 using smaller “Tier 3” licence areas that will allow smaller service providers to access more wireless airwaves in rural locations, Industry Minister James Moore said.

“This spectrum is ideal for delivering fast, reliable service on the latest smartphones and tablets and for enhancing Internet service for Canadians, especially those Canadians living in rural areas,” Moore said Friday at a press conference in Vancouver.

Cheaper data for mobile TV not an undue preference, BCE says

BCE Inc.’s mobile TV product is a distinct broadcast distribution business and its pricing structure does not disadvantage competitors' over-the-top video services any more than the pricing of home TV services offered by other Internet service providers (ISPs), the company said in regulatory filings.

Auction 2014 — What to expect

The long-anticipated 700 MHz spectrum auction begins Tuesday, Jan 14. Among the rules set out by Industry Canada, each of the three incumbents, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., are each only allowed to acquire one of the four prime blocks of spectrum in each of 14 designated regions across the country, which leaves at least one block open to another bidder.

Verizon CEO says unlimited data ‘has to go away’

Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Communications Inc., said wireless carriers will have to stop offering unlimited data.

Speaking at the Citi 2014 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas Tuesday, McAdam said it’s “just sort of a fact of life” that “eventually unlimited has got to go away,” according to a transcript on Verizon’s website.

Mobilicity asks court to rule on spectrum transfers, cites government ambiguity

Mobilicity is asking the Ontario Superior Court to consider whether it could approve a transfer of the new entrant provider’s spectrum licences as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, and in the absence of an Industry Canada decision on any proposed spectrum transfer, court documents show.

Wireless sector facing ‘transition year’ in 2014

Carriers still finding their way under the CRTC’s wireless code will face the rollout of 700 MHz spectrum, potential new-entrant consolidation and the recalibration of domestic roaming rates in 2014, in what is poised to be a year of change, challenges and opportunities for the industry, analysts said.

“We expect 2014 to be a transition year for wireless,” RBC Dominion Securities analyst Drew McReynolds said in a note to clients in late December.

Proposed roaming caps won’t hurt incumbents: experts

The government’s move to limit wholesale domestic roaming rates will have little impact on major wireless providers’ bottom lines, experts say, while not all agree on how much the move will help new entrants.

“The direct impact is fairly low, but it does, obviously, from a competitive standpoint, have an impact because now [incumbents] have to share their networks for less money,” Troy Crandall, telecom analyst with MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier, said in a phone interview.

CRTC to review wholesale roaming rates

The CRTC has launched a consultation to examine wireless providers’ wholesale roaming rates and will launch another next year on the “sustainability” of wireless competition, the commission said Thursday.

“We are concerned that some wireless companies may be making it unfairly difficult for Canadian providers that do not operate a national network to compete in the marketplace,” CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in a press release.

AT&T launches LTE roaming in Canada with Rogers

U.S. telecommunications provider AT&T Inc. said Monday it has launched LTE roaming in Canada through a partnership with Rogers Communications Inc.

AT&T said the deal makes it the first U.S. carrier to offer international LTE roaming.

Telus fights 700 MHz spectrum cap at Federal Court

The federal industry minister has no right to determine the “eligibility criteria” for companies to participate in spectrum auctions in the absence of formal rules from cabinet, lawyers representing Telus Corp. argued in Federal Court on Tuesday.

Wind Mobile wants Mobilicity’s spectrum for LTE network: Lacavera

Globalive Wireless Management Corp., operator of Wind Mobile, is looking at buying Mobilicity because it needs more spectrum in order to roll out an LTE network, Wind CEO Anthony Lacavera said.

“Spectrum is the real estate of our business, as you know,” Lacavera said in a phone interview. “We have kind of used the real estate we’ve got, and we’ve deployed 3G services on that. We now need a new chunk of real estate to roll out 4G, or LTE services.”

Bell reduces roaming data charges for certain locations

BCE Inc. said Monday it is reducing data roaming charges for customers travelling in Mexico, China, Australia, New Zealand and most European countries.

Bell said travel data passes for these areas will provide customers with 50 megabytes for $30, down from 100 MB plans that sold for $75. Bell said this new deal brings its data roaming rates in those countries to 60 cents per megabyte, down from 75 cents.

Rogers offers new U.S. roaming rates

Rogers Communications Inc. on Thursday announced new U.S. roaming rates, which it said double its previous data caps and provide more talk time as well as unlimited texting at lower prices.

A basic data plan starts at $7.99, provides 50 megabytes of data and is good for 24 hours. It makes no provisions for voice or outgoing texts, though Rogers said incoming texts are free with any travel package while roaming.

Consumers trump lobbyists in development of telecom regulation: consultant

TORONTO—Political intervention in the development of regulatory policy is here to stay, as grassroots consumer movements reduce lobbyists' ability to sway politicians and regulators, Playbook Communications consultant Erik Waddell said.

“The Harper government, and really the Conservative party, is at heart a populist movement,” Waddell said Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto.

Despite challenges, 5G wireless could arrive by 2020

Though all the possibilities that 4G wireless technology presents still haven’t been fully explored, industry experts gathered in Ottawa on Wednesday to look ahead at the next generation of wireless networks and discuss what 5G mobility will be like.

The commercial availability of 5G networks is expected around 2020, Wen Tong, an Ottawa-based fellow with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., said at the 5G@Canada Roundtable, organized by the global Chinese telecom company.

Cellphone-only users are younger, lower-income: MTM

People who use cellphones and not home phones spend more time on the Internet and watch more online TV, Media Technology Monitor said in a new report.

MTM, a joint research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and BBM Analytics, said in a report released this week that cellphone-only users “report spending more time using the Internet each week than landline subscribers with cell phones, but they are less likely to have an Internet connection at home."

Bell lowers roaming rates to Caribbean

BCE Inc. cut the cost of its roaming packages for customers visiting Bermuda and “most Caribbean islands,” the company said.

In a release Tuesday, BCE said its “30-day Travel Bundle,” which previously cost $95, will cost $50 starting Wednesday, for its subscribers who travel to Bermuda or one of at least 12 other Caribbean countries.

The package, the company said, includes 25 MB of data, 50 minutes of calling, and 50 outgoing and unlimited incoming text messages.

Allstream no longer for sale as Accelero deal the first blocked for national security

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. is removing the “for sale” sign from its Allstream division following the Conservative government's decision to block its sale to Accelero Capital Holdings, said Chris Peirce, the company’s chief corporate officer.

“We think Allstream is in the right place in terms of our market niche,” Peirce said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “We’re going to focus on building the Allstream business.”

Bell cuts roaming rates as CRTC ponders regulations

BCE Inc. chopped its U.S. mobile roaming pricing as telecom carriers face possible regulatory intervention from the CRTC on roaming rates.

In a release Monday, BCE said it was cutting the cost of its monthly U.S. roaming package in half, from $50 to $25. That package, which allows BCE’s wireless consumers to piggyback on American carriers’ networks when travelling to the United States, includes 50 MB of monthly data usage, 50 minutes of calls to the U.S. or Canada, unlimited incoming text messages and 200 outgoing texts, the release said.

CRTC looking into wireless roaming agreements

The CRTC is ordering Canada’s mobile providers to answer questions about the roaming agreements they enter into with other wireless carriers after hearing “concerns” from consumers and new entrant players about roaming rates.

Will wireless providers benefit from smartphone market’s ‘device exhaustion’?

When smartphones first became available, they were groundbreaking and innovative because they brought together the functions of previously separate devices—cameras and GPS, telephones and computers—into one.

They “integrated the functions of other devices we had in our pocket at the time,” Glen Yeung, managing director and global head of technology research at Citi, said in a telephone interview.

Now, though, it seems we’re all out of devices to integrate.

CRTC says consumers can cancel wireless contracts after two years, no fees

Canadian wireless consumers can cancel long-term wireless contracts with mobile phone providers after two years without any cancellation fees, the CRTC said in new wireless code of conduct regulations, which is expected to mean the end of three-year mobile contracts.

Telus informed government in advance of $380m deal for Mobilicity

Telus Corp. reached a deal to acquire new entrant carrier Mobilicity, including its 250,000 customers, for $380 million, the companies said, indicating they informed Industry Canada about the deal in advance.

In releases Thursday, the companies said the agreement, which remains subject to regulatory approval by Industry Canada and the Competition Bureau, would allow Mobilicity (operated by Dave Wireless Inc.), to pay off its debt.

Bell, Telus chipping away at Rogers’ lead in postpaid wireless

Data usage and subscriber growth powered BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. to higher first quarter wireless revenues as the two companies added more postpaid subscribers at a faster pace than rival incumbent Rogers Communications Inc.

In an earnings statement released Thursday, Bell said it added a net 59,497 postpaid wireless subscribers in the three-month period that ended March 31, bringing its total postpaid subscriber base to 6.48 million, representing 84.5 per cent of its 7.67 million total wireless subscribers.

Quebecor revenues up on telecom services

Sustained growth across Quebecor Media Inc.’s telecommunications services boosted the company’s revenues by $73.5 million in the first quarter to $1.06 billion, the company announced on Wednesday.

Federal Court overturns government’s approval of Globalive