Wind Mobile (styled as WIND) is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider operated by Globalive Communications Corporation. The company initially launched mobile data and voice services in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ontario on December 16, 2009 and two days later in Calgary, Alberta.[2] The network has since mainly expanded to include several cities in Southern Ontario, the most notable being Ottawa. In Western Canada, coverage was added to Edmonton, Alberta. Additionally, British Columbia was also added for most of Greater Vancouver area plus Abbotsford and Whistler. As of February 2012[update], Wind Mobile has 425,000 active subscribers Canada-wide.[3]
Globalive, a Canadian company which also runs "Yak Communications", is primarily financed by an Egyptian corporation, Orascom Telecom Holding, managed by Wind Telecom S.p.A., which owns a number of other "Wind" brand telecommunications companies. Globalive bid $442-million (CAD) in 2008 to secure the wireless spectrum required for the launch of the network.[4] The launch of the company was delayed due to a public ownership review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The regulatory body stated that Globalive did not meet Canadian ownership requirements.[5] The most prominent issue was Globalive's reliance on Orascom for its debt, which stands at $508-million (CAD).[6]
Globalive completed its first test call on the network in June 2009.[7]
On December 11 of that year, the Governor in Council (acting on suggestion of Tony Clement, Industry Minister of Canada) issued a final decision deeming that Globalive does meet ownership requirements, allowing Globalive to enter the Canadian market immediately.[8]
On December 14, shortly before the peak of the Christmas and holiday season, Wind announced an alliance with Blockbuster Inc. in Canada to offer Wind kiosks within Blockbuster stores at 16 locations, 13 in Ontario and 3 in Calgary.[9]
On December 16, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Toronto. A launch event was hosted at its Queens Quay location in downtown Toronto.
Chris Robbins, chief customer officer resigned from Wind Mobile on March 4, 2010. Both Robbins and Wind Mobile said that the departure was due to strategic changes and the former wanting to pursue other business opportunities. Analysts assessed the change negatively speculating that an executive departure so early reflected disappointing market penetration.[10]
On March 27, 2010, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Ottawa. A launch event was hosted at the Rideau St location. Service was also launched in most of Greater Vancouver area and Edmonton, Alberta throughout the year.
Wind Mobile announced on August 13 that in early July, they had reached "the 100,000 mark in terms of new wireless subscribers".[11] Orascom's third-quarter financial report, released in November 2010, listed Wind's subscriber base as 139,681.[12][13]
On February 4, 2011, the Federal Court ruled in a suit brought by competitor Public Mobile and Telus that the Governor in Council's decision overriding the CRTC's determination that Wind Mobile did not meet Canadian ownership requirements was improper. Wind was granted a 45-day stay of the decision to file arguments.[14][15] On May 18, the Federal Court of Appeal heard arguments from Wind and the federal government as to why the Federal Court decision should be quashed. The Federal Court of Appeal's decision allowed Globalive's appeal and restored the Governor in Council's order that Wind met Canadian ownership requirements.[16] On September 19, Public Mobile entered an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.[17]
On March 17, the shareholders of Russian mobile telephone operator VimpelCom voted in support of a $6 billion deal to acquire WIND Telecom, whose assets include Orascom Telecom, a significant shareholder in WIND Mobile. The parties are now moving to close the deal, likely sometime in the first half of 2011. This transaction would create the world’s fifth largest mobile operator by subscribers - more than 173 million subscribers.[18]
Wind's network in the region of Kitchener and Waterloo (K-W) was launched on August 16,[19] just in time for the back to school season of 2011. In conjunction with this launch, the company introduced a WINDtab+ option for Pay After customers, as well as a promotional Super Smart plan for all customers. Both services are available to all WIND subscribers in any WIND zones. Guelph coverage was officially announced on September 9[20] and two stores opened in Guelph by the end of the month. The St. Catharines and Welland zones were officially launched on October 15, and one store was opened in each city.[21] The provider added more stores in October for all these regions, along with new handsets and special promotions.[22]
The carrier launched a new advertising campaign on November 7, adopting the slogan "That's the power of WIND" and reinforcing orange as its official colour. A promotional "Oh Canada" plan was also offered in conjunction with the new campaign. Service in Niagara Falls was officially launched on November 23. To celebrate, the company offered 30 Nokia C7 smartphones at the price of $7 each at their store in The Pen Centre shopping mall.[23] Wind plans to connect the Niagara region coverage with that of the Greater Toronto Area. The Abbotsford and Cambridge cities were added to Wind's network between December 4 and December 6.[24] London was added the following week, on December 13.[25]
During the winter season of 2012, several new devices were added to Wind's lineup: the BlackBerry Bold 9790, a white BlackBerry Curve 9360, the Google-branded Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Radar 4G. Coverage and retail stores were also added in Barrie, Ontario.
Wind Mobile announced a new plan lineup on March 1, 2012. The Clever and Brilliant plans were eliminated. Pay Your Way now permanently includes unlimited incoming calls answered while on Wind's network, while the mid-range Smart and high-end Genius plans were respectively renamed to simply "WIND 25" and "WIND 40" and have some features changed. The two latter plans will no longer include unlimited sent SMS to countries other than Canada or unlimited sent MMS to Canada and the USA. Text messages sent to a non-Canadian phone number are now charged at pay-per-use rates or as an add-on.. The WIND 25 plan includes 100 MB of mobile Internet access, while the WIND 40 plan will feature 5 GB of full-speed mobile Internet instead of the previously included voice-mail.[26]
In addition to these plan changes, Wind also plans to add newer devices to its lineup.[27] An internal memo confirmed that Wind Mobile organized an employee training session for the Samsung Galaxy S 4G Android smartphone.[28] Wind released this device on March 15, 2012. The Mobile Syrup blog also announced that Wind would release the Huawei U8651, Nokia Lumia 710 and Samsung Galaxy Q "in the late March or early April timeframe."[29] These launches have been delayed, as Wind announced that the Lumia 710 was "coming soon" on April 17, 2012.[30] Later, the Samsung Galaxy Q and U8651 were launched on May 11, 2012. Wind also announced that they will carry the Samsung Galaxy S III sometime during the summer.[31]
Network expansion in Ontario is also planned. Kingston, Peterborough, Windsor and Woodstock have been marked as future cities for Wind Mobile's network on May 26, 2012.[32]
Wind Mobile provides UMTS wireless services with High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for data, using its license on the UMTS IV frequency band, also known as Advanced Wireless Services (AWS). Using this band, user equipment transmits at 1710–1755 MHz, and receives at 2110–2155 MHz. Evolved HSPA, also known as HSPA+, was activated on Wind's network during the summer of 2011.
Wind Mobile is the first Canadian wireless service provider to make use of the AWS spectrum for its network. In North America, T-Mobile USA is the largest provider to use this spectrum. Wind's use of AWS requires that customers use an AWS-capable handset, which are less common than band II and V handsets, which predate band IV by more than 10 years.
Since Wind's launch in Canada, other service providers have begun operations using AWS. As of 2010[update], this includes Mobilicity and Vidéotron. Although Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility also have had an AWS network since 2011, they are currently only available in select cities for use with a LTE mobile broadband modem. Other devices are coming soon.
Currently, Wind's network coverage in Ontario includes the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ottawa, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, part of the Niagara Region, and London. Outside of Ontario, Wind has coverage in Gatineau, Quebec; Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta; plus the Greater Vancouver area, Whistler and Abbotsford cities in British Columbia.
Throughout 2012, the operator will also launch service in several new cities while continuing to expand the edges and increase the density of its network in existing cities.[33][34] In Ontario, Wind plans to add the Barrie, Belleville, Kingston, Peterborough and Windsor cities to its network. Outside of that province, Wind plans to extend its network to Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Wind also wants to expand its beach head out of Vancouver. [35][36]
Wind formerly called their coverage areas home zones. Since November 7, 2011, they now use the term "our network" instead. Customers traveling outside of this network automatically roam on a national GSM and HSPA partner network.
Wind Mobile offers various devices for use on their network. These include feature phones, smartphones and mobile broadband modems.
WIND's device lineup currently includes three feature phones. Two are from Huawei and one is manufactured by Samsung:
The U2801 is a very basic candybar phone that succeeds the Huawei U1250, while the U6150 is a feature phone with a QWERTY keyboard. The latter's candybar design closely resembles that of a BlackBerry.
Previously, WIND offered the Huawei U7519, a feature phone available at launch for $130. Its price was lowered to $70, then to $35 in October 2010 before being discontinued.
Another launch device is the Samsung Gravity 2. Its original price was $150, and it was lowered to $78 before being discontinued recently.
The
HTC Radar 4G is available at Wind Mobile.
Multiple smartphones are currently available from Wind Mobile. These include various BlackBerry OS- and Android-powered devices, as well as one device running Symbian and another running Windows Phone:
Wind is Canada's first carrier to offer Alcatel-branded phones. The Alcatel Tribe, an Android similar to the Palm Pre, was previously available. Wind is also the first and only provider in that country to sell a Huawei smartphone.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone was available at launch, but has been replaced by the 9780, which itself was succeeded by the 9790 and 9900. Another smartphone available at launch was the HTC Maple, Wind's only device to run the legacy Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. The device was later offered by Mobilicity and both carriers have now discontinued its sale.
Wind launched its first Android 4.0 and Windows Phone 7 smartphones in February 2012. They were the Galaxy Nexus and HTC Radar 4G, respectively. During that same month, WIND quietly discontinued older smartphones, such as the Nexus S and BlackBerry Curve 9300.
Currently, Wind Mobile sells three devices that are exclusively designed for mobile broadband:
- Huawei E1691
- Huawei E366
- Huawei E583
The E1691 and E366 are USB devices that are officially supported by computers using the Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, or Linux operating systems. The E1691 and the E583 can download at speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, while the E366 can reach speeds up to 21.1 Mbit/s. The E583 is a portable device, similar to the MiFi, that allows any Wi-Fi device to connect to mobile Internet.
For those who already own a compatible phone, SIM cards cost $25 each. These can be used to access Wind's network with any unlocked UMTS hardware supporting AWS (UMTS band IV), such as the Nokia N900 or the Google Nexus One.[37][38][39] When the SIM is inserted into a device supporting older GSM (2G) technology, one can sometimes access the Rogers Wireless network, regardless of whether or not AWS frequencies are supported by the device. Roaming on the Rogers network is not avaialble in some places where Wind advertises as having their own coverage and is blocked in many of those places. Roaming fees, however, will be charged, so a payment method is required to pay these fees.
Wind entered the Canadian market offering three mobile voice plans at $15, $35, and $45 monthly. These included a low-cost plan with limited minutes and two plans with unlimited province-wide and nation-wide calling respectively. Various promotional $25 monthly plans were added to this lineup over time, before settling for a regular retail plan which includes unlimited local calling. In March 2012, Wind removed all monthly plans except for the one at $25, and introduced a new plan at $40/month with Canada-wide calling and unlimited mobile broadband. This was done to simplify the carrier's plan selection. Since September 2011, Wind also offers a pay-per-use plan called "Pay Your Way" with no monthly fees. This plan continues to be available today, and deducts funds from the customer's prepaid balance based on usage.[40] Occasionally, Wind offers promotional plans with some or many bonus features to new and existing subscribers, the most notable being the "Holiday Miracle" plan.[41]
A variety of add-ons exist to add extra features to these plans such as voicemail, a larger allowance for full speed mobile broadband, and reduced rates for United States long-distance calling or roaming. Pay Your Way offers a broader selection of add-ons for talk time, messaging, mobile broadband and roaming.
Wind offers various data services for their subscribers. A variety of monthly plans are offered for both phones and Mobile broadband modems. A pay per use plan also exists that bills based on the amount of time data is used.
All plans contain limits as to their usage. Lower cost plans have a hard limit for data usage; customers will be billed for excess usage. Higher cost plans incorporate a soft limit; usage exceeding this limit may result in the customer's device being throttled to allow other customers fair access to the network. In cases where action is taken, Wind will inform customers that have their connections throttled.
The WINDtab is a billing method introduced on November 5, 2010, well before the Christmas and holiday season of that year. It is very similar to Koodo Mobile's Tab payment system in that it subsidizes up to $150 off the retail price of a device by placing the amount of the subsidy on a tab balance. Like Koodo, it only works on postpaid activations, known as Pay After.
During the K-W launch day on August 16, 2011, WIND introduced another subsidy option called the WINDtab+. This increased the subsidy provided on more costly devices when combined with certain plans. Accounts in good standing with devices purchased under this agreement would have their tab cleared after three years of service. This feature is called the "Pay-off Promise".
As part of Wind's plan simplification during the month of March in 2012, the WINDtab+ was simply renamed to WINDtab. The $25/month plan offers subsidies of $150 or $200 while the $40/month plan offers subsidies of up to $450. The amount of the subsidy depends on the device chosen. Both plans feature the Pay-off Promise.
When a customer is outside of Wind's coverage, services are provided by their roaming partners. Wind's roaming partners include Rogers Wireless for Canada and T-Mobile for the United States on both roaming partners' 2G and HSPA networks. Per-use services while connected to these two carriers are charged at pay-per-use rates.
Whether or not the customer has a roaming plan, received text messages are free throughout the world. As of May 2010[update], Canada's three largest wireless providers charge much more than Wind for roaming in the United States.[42] Small providers like Mobilicity and Public Mobile, similarly to Wind, offer very competitive roaming rates throughout North America.[43]
In 2009, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) complained that Wind received the majority of its funding from the foreign company Orascom Telecom Holding. The case was dismissed by Q4 of that year, allowing Wind to launch for the Christmas and holiday season. Competitor Public Mobile quickly partnered with Telus Mobility for both roaming agreements and together suing Wind for its foreign ownership. Telus later backed out, leaving Public alone to continue the lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. On April 26, 2012, the Court announced that it will not hear the case about Wind Mobile's foreign ownership.[44] Public Mobile itself received foreign funding of at least $350 million from the Export-Import Bank of China in 2010.[45]
Wind's philanthropic arm is called WINDthanks and has a web page at www.wind.ca/windthanks. This started during the back-to-school season of 2011 in conjunction with the Kitchener-Waterloo launch. Those living in the region could nominate a charitable project to win a $10,000 grant from Wind. The winner was MobileED, and received complimentary mobile broadband products and services from Wind in addition to the grant. To commemorate its recent launches in the Niagara region and the city of London, Wind similarly plans to award one $10,000 grant per region.[46] The winner in the Niagara region will be announced in January 2012.[47]
Wind Mobile advertises its products and services on the radio, television and public transit. They also have various contests where they give away promotional prizes such as sweatshirts, or a smartphone with a month of service. Such contests happened more frequently before, and while there are less of them now, Wind did a contest in May 2012 for its reopening at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
The current logo, introduced on November 7, 2011, consists of the name WIND in orange, with a W-shaped wave on top and a dot placed above the wave and the letter "I", all placed inside of a curved, parallelogram-shaped white speech balloon.
WINDmagazine is an advertising publication created by St. Joseph Media. It is available at Wind Mobile stores for customers and non-customers alike. Issues are themed after a certain word. For example, the words "heroes", "nice", and "change" were used as themes for the company's publications. Although there are 15 centre pages showcasing WIND's products and services, the rest of the magazine consists of articles related to the magazine's theme word.
- December 2009-October 2011 : "The power of conversation." (English) / "Le pouvoir de la communication." (French)
- November 2011 – present : "That's the power of WIND."
- ^ Globalive to keep 800 of its cellphone division employees on payroll
- ^ Wind launches with cheaper phone rates
- ^ Van Wageningen, Ellen (2012-02-04). "Wind Mobile hiring for Windsor call centre". Windsor Star. http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Wind+Mobile+hiring+Windsor+call+centre/6101457/story.html. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ Decision Reached in Rare Public Hearing Proceeding into the Ownership and Control of a Canadian Telecommunications Carrier
- ^ Robertson, Grant. Globalive fails ownership test: CRTC. Globe and Mail. October 29, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
- ^ Sturgeon, Jamie. Wind Mobile takes off. National Post. December 11, 2009. Retrieved on December 14, 2009.
- ^ Globalive Places First Successful Test Call in Canada
- ^ Government of Canada. Government of Canada Varies CRTC Decision on Globalive. Government of Canada. December 11, 2009.
- ^ Wind Mobile’s launched their new kiosks inside Blockbuster stores – selling nothing! [1]
- ^ Marlow, Iain. Wind Mobile's Chris Robbins leaves telecom start-up . Globe and Mail. March 4, 2010.
- ^ WIND Mobile 100,000 is Just the Beginning! . WIND Mobile. August 16, 2010.
- ^ Marlow, Iain (2010-11-08). "Wind Mobile subscriber numbers climb". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/wind-mobile-subscriber-numbers-climb/article1790255/. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- ^ O'Brien, Kate (2010-11-08). "WIND subscriber base reaches 139,681". MobileSyrup.com. http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/11/08/wind-subscriber-base-reaches-139681/. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- ^ Public Mobile v Canada (Attorney General), 2011 FC 130
- ^ Chase, Steven (2011-02-04). "Telecom ruling puts a leash on Tory cabinet authority". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/telecom-ruling-puts-a-leash-on-tory-cabinet-authority/article1895099/. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
- ^ Globalive Wireless Management Corp v Public Mobile Inc, 2011 FCA 194
- ^ "SCC Case Information Docket 34418". Supreme Court of Canada. http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/cms-sgd/dock-regi-eng.aspx?cas=34418. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- ^ "VimpelCom voted to acquire WIND Telecom". http://www.windmobile.ca/community/WIND-news/detail/new-telecom-merger-what-it-means-wind-mobile-customers/.
- ^ Launch Day in KW! - WIND Mobile Blog
- ^ $0 BlackBerry Bold Smartphones: Exclusive Weekend Sale! - WIND Mobile Blog
- ^ WIND Mobile - Facebook
- ^ Move Savings & More Stores in October - WIND Mobile Blog
- ^ "Here We Come, Niagara Region". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2011/11/here-we-come-niagara-region/comment-page-1/#comment-491. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
- ^ "New Cities, $200 Holiday Gift & Much More". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2011/12/new-cities-200-holiday-gift-much-more/. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ "Here’s Looking at You, London.". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2011/12/here’s-looking-at-you-london/. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ Hardy, Ian. "WIND Mobile changing rate plans and add-ons March 1st, here are the details…". Mobile Syrup. http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/02/28/wind-mobile-changing-rate-plans-and-add-ons-march-1st-here-are-the-details/. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
- ^ "New Month + New Plans + New Add-ons + New Promotion = SPRING!". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2012/03/new-month-new-plans-new-add-ons-new-promotion-spring/. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
- ^ Hardy, Ian. "WIND to release the Samsung Galaxy S 4G". Mobile Syrup. http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/02/27/wind-to-release-the-samsung-galaxy-s-4g/. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
- ^ Hardy, Ian. "WIND Mobile to release the Nokia Lumia 710, Samsung Gravity Touch 2, and Huawei Astro". Mobile Syrup. http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/03/26/wind-mobile-to-release-the-nokia-lumina-710-samsung-gravity-touch-2-and-huawei-astro/. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
- ^ Hardy, Ian. "WIND officially says the Nokia Lumia 710 is “Coming Soon”". Mobile Syrup. http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/04/16/wind-officially-says-the-nokia-lumia-710-is-coming-soon/. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
- ^ "Samsung Galaxy S III Coming This Summer To WIND". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2012/05/samsun-galaxy-s-iii-coming-this-summer-to-wind/. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ Hardy, Ian. "WIND updates coverage map showing “planned expansion” for Windsor, Woodstock, Peterborough and Kingston". Mobile Syrup. http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/05/26/wind-updates-coverage-map-showing-planned-expansion-for-windsor-woodstock-peterborough-and-kingston/?replytocom=245981#respond. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
- ^ Campbell, Ken. "Making Progress (and More to Come)". http://www.windmobile.ca/community/WIND-news/detail/making-progress-and-more-come/. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ Campbell, Scott. "Coverage Update & News for K-W". http://windmobileblog.com/2011/07/coverage-update-news-for-k-w/. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ Solomon, Howard. "Wind Mobile continues expansion across the country". IT World Canada. http://m.itworldcanada.com/story.aspx?id=144255. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
- ^ Thomas, Shelley. "WIND Mobile launches in London with $10,000 community grant". Narrative Advocacy Media. http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/894629/wind-mobile-launches-in-london-with-10-000-community-grant. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ FP Tech Desk: Why Wind can offer Google's Nexus One: A 3G band primer
- ^ #NexusOne: Works on AWS, we're chatting with them, confirming config works with Wind, more to come...
- ^ Wind Mobile FAQ [2]. Wind Mobile
- ^ "Pay Your Way". WIND Mobile. http://www.windmobile.ca/en/Pages/Pay-Your-Way-Prepaid-Cell-Phone-Service.aspx. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- ^ "Holiday Miracle Plan". WIND Mobile. http://www2.windmobile.ca/en/Pages/unlimitedtalktextdata.aspx. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- ^ http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/03/25/bell-increasing-roaming-rates-may-1st-2010/
- ^ Wind Mobile Store [3]. Wind Mobile
- ^ "Globalive wins wireless fight with Wind Mobile". CBC News. http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/business/supreme_court_dismisses_challenge_to_wind_mobile_launch/cc6749f6. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
- ^ "Public Mobile, ZTE and the Export-Import Bank of China Agree on $350 Million Financing Arrangement". Marketwire. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Public-Mobile-ZTE-Export-Import-Bank-China-Agree-on-350-Million-Financing-Arrangement-1281042.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
- ^ "WINDthanks". WIND Mobile. http://www.windmobile.ca/en/pages/WINDthanks.aspx. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
- ^ Lacavera, Tony. "Help Bring Positive Change to Niagara". WIND Mobile. http://windmobileblog.com/2011/11/help-bring-positive-change-to-niagara/. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
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