Portable cell numbers far off

These

are good times for

Canada’s wireless industry.

There is less competition after Rogers Communications Inc. spent $1.4-billion to put

Microcell Telecommunications Inc. out of its misery; the pricing environment is “rational”; profit and subscriber growth is healthy; and the number of customers who stop their service or leave for a rival carrier each month has declined.

Given this competitive utopia, you can only imagine how bothered the carriers were when the federal government told them last February to “ expeditiously” launch technology that will let consumers keep their phone numbers when they switch carriers. Rather than keep customers by locking them into long-term contracts, wireless number portability, or WNP, means carriers will actually have to provide good customer service and competitive pricing.

The wireless industry’s response last week to Industry Canada’s entreaty was not surprising: After commissioning a “study”, they agreed to do it but on their terms, which means it will take until at least 2008 before everyone in Canada get to enjoy the benefits of WNP.

“Frankly, it will be the fastest deployment of WNP in the world,” Robert Bruce, Rogers Wireless’s chief executive, told an BMO Nesbitt Burns conference calls last. “It is not an un-aggressive date but a date that will maximize the customer experience.”

His counterpart at Bell Mobility, Robert Odendaal, added the industry can’t be “foolhardy” in how it brings WNP into the market. “We have a very proud industry here in Canada and execution is imperative,” he said. “We need to make sure we do it properly.”

These comments sound sincere and certainly consumerfriendly but the reality is they’re completely self- serving and a blatant attempt to put one over on consumers, Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

How can it take the Canadian wireless industry three years to implement technology that has been used in the U. S. since late2003 and widely available through Europe?

It’s particularly puzzling given Canadian consumers can currently keep their numbers if they switch wireline carriers (e.g. Bell to Sprint); if they switch from wireline to VoIP ( e. g Telus to Vonage), and from wireline to one wireless carrier Fido (Microcell/ It shouldn’t be too much of a leap to quickly roll out wireless to wireless service as well, right?

Eamon Hoey, senior partner with Hoey Associates, said the wireless industry’s timeframe is “nonsense” because the carriers knew WNP was coming as far as back 1996. As for arguments the U. S. took seven years to implement WNP, Mr. Hoey said six and half years were spent in court as the carriers fought to fend off WNP.

Another push-back by the Canadian wireless industry is the contention that full WNP must be launched across the country rather than gradually phased in.

It means consumers in Moose Jaw, Sask. (no offense intended) could get WNP at the same time as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal where the wireless carriers do most of their business.

Why not start with wireless to wireless portability, and then go from there?

Clearly, the federal government is not amused. Larry Shaw, director general of telecom policy with Industry Canada, said the industry’s WNP roll-out plan is disappointing. “ To be brutally honest, we were hoping for a significantly quicker deadline,” he said. “We were hoping it could be done in 18 months.”

Andrew Black, president and chief executive with Virgin Mobile Canada, is even more outspoken. The implementation plan, he said, is “ridiculous.” “ They are using the technology as an excuse,” he said.

So what happens now? Do Canadians have to wait patiently while the wireless carriers take their sweet time on plans, tests and trials? The ball is now in the hands of the CRTC and Industry Canada, which could decide that WNP should be implemented earlier because it is such a big benefit to consumers. The other route is consumers raising their voices to demand WNP — something being encouraged by Virgin, which recently ran a fullpage letter from Virgin PLC founder Richard Branson in some local newspapers.

Unless the government, the CRTC or consumers force the wireless industry to move sooner rather than later, it could take a long time before WNP is introduced. If consumers meekly accept that WNP will not happen until 2008, don’t be surprised if industry cites “technical issues” for causing “unexpected” delays that could push out WNP even further into the future. The wireless industry is reveling in good times, so anything that can dampen the party will be put off as long as it can.