The gloves are off as Telus sues Rogers: Canada's mobile network 3GPP convergence

Telus Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Rogers Wireless to discontinue its "misleading ad" campaign stating that the Rogers Wireless Network recently overlaid with HSPA+ capabilities, is the fastest and most reliable with fewest dropped calls in Canada. Testing of Telus' shared HSPA+ network will now be necessary to prove reliability and it was Telus that commissioned the earlier studies that reveal that it was indeed Rogers who had the fewest dropped calls in Canada. Telus will probably have to state why Bell Canada is saying its network, the same network used by Telus, is the fastest.
Telus' marketing team or at the very least the engineering heads should know that beyond the "fastest" term in the Rogers Wireless ad they will have to prove the rest of factors; fewest dropped calls and clarity, wrong. Having the same technical capability of 21 Mbp/s on the air interface of the cell site is one of a number of factors to be considered as they are also using equipment from different vendors. Then there is coverage and network footprint along with channel capacity, the user device, among factors to be considered. These are a few of the numerous reasons a call gets dropped.

Telus has made a good pre-emptive strike and I can imagine will stand to gain something from this exercise. Lets see how the story onfolds.

Yahoo and Google in Online ad deal: Wither Microsoft?

Just moments after a report that all negotiations have been discontinued with tech giant Microsoft there is a new report that a deal has been signed with rival Google. While some are heralding Yahoo's independence as victory over Microsoft, there are concerns amongst the Yahoo shareholders as the stock price fell 10% on the announcement of the latest Microsoft rejection. Carl Ichan, could be more encouraged to now replace the company's board with the outcome of the Microsoft negotiations.

The announcement came after Yahoo said it had failed to persuade Microsoft to renew its bid to buy all of the Internet company for the $37 per share asked, over 13% more than Microsoft's offer. Recent talks ended after Yahoo rejected a Microsoft proposal to buy just its online search business. It may be some time before the deal takes effect as Microsoft and a number of interest groups have signaled that they challenge the deal on anti-trust grounds. The Google-Yahoo plan has reportedly drawn the attention of U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, who chairs an antitrust committee.

Telus to Join GSM World?

The Toronto Star reported today that Telus Corporation may soon be upgrading its CDMA network to a GSM system to join the networks supporting over 2 billion of the world's mobile phone subscribers. This speculation is against the background of Telus wanting to tap into the lucrative international roaming market ahead of increased wireless competition expected later this year. GSM provider Rogers is reported to have a lion share of the mobile roaming fees given the wide use of GSM worldwide. Telus has not commented however this is one to watch!

The Windows evolution

Microsoft is getting ready with XP SP3 and Vista SP1 and the Vista Service Pack will be critical. For years this has been like second nature to all of us and with founder Bill Gates due to step down from Microsoft's executive in the new year one wonders if there will be and end to the company's OS market dominance. Like it or not, Microsoft has earned the top spot, however it seems that only new application areas are being dominated by the other industry players largely due to first mover advantage. 2008 is upon us and I expect to see much more from the software applications industry. New players?

Google's concern about Rogers' subscriber messaging in webpages

Google Inc made its concern known today in a statement emailed to The Toronto Star regarding a system it says Rogers Communication is testing that would insert a branded message in its web page (and supposedly others) to the Rogers High Speed Internet subscribers when they are approaching their monthly data limit. This was later confirmed by Taanta Gupta, a Rogers spokesperson who according to the Star report, said the company does not have email addresses for all of its subscribers. For some time now there have been questions regarding content providers like Google whose service offering is based on Internet access by subscribers from an infrastructure developed and maintained by the few network providers. Is this an indication that we are moving into a new realm of Internet service delivery? More

Canadian Wireless Spectrum to be auctioned next May

Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice announced yesterday that there will be a wireless spectrum offer May 2008 with 40% being reserved for a new entrant into the market despite protest from Bell, Rogers and Telus who have all indicated a preference for a free competitive bid. Th resistance by the three current service providers is louder as they feel that the market is fully served and does not need a fourth competitor who is subsidized by the government. The Wireless Competition alliance formed by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) had launched a website months ago to present their case to the Canadian public, however the government has decided to go ahead with the promised policy.

What will be the outcome of this auction? Will Quebecor Media Inc finally move into the wireless market?

Microsoft Vista and Parental Control

I am still getting used to Windows Vista and the new security management and parental control features are driving me nuts! That being said, this could be a winner for Microsoft as this approach has drawn Apple into the foray of responsible computing managed at the OS level. Apple's Leopard is further testament to their creed; make it better with innovation. Sadly, there are those fans who still think Apple creates and innovates and not just follow. More

WiMAX dealt a blow in the US market

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Corporation might be abandoning their plans to build a Wireless Broadband network based on WiMAX technology according to a Wall Street Journal report published today. This turn of event would be a serious setback for the WiMAX standard as this could see mainstream equipment manufacturers moving away from wireless devices and networking gear based on the standard. More later.

Microsoft and Facebook

Microsoft late yesterday entered a deal to solidify their alliance with social networking site Facebook. The deal, worth $240 million will give Microsoft Corporation a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. This latest move also leverages Microsoft's drive to increase revenues in Internet advertising as its main rival Google Inc expand its dominance of web-based market. Microsoft's online ad revenue stands at $1.84 billion compared to Google's recent ad revenue of $13.3 billion. More

RIM Shares up as Blackberry enters China!

Research in Motion shares jumped 8% today on the news that the Blackberry phones will now be marketed in China. CEO Jim Basillie made the announcement regarding the Alcatel-Lucent joint venture today which drove the company's share price to $120.42 on the TSX. This follows weeks of speculation as the markets were awaiting this long overdue announcement and reacted as expected. More

WiMAX now ITU Standard!

Last week was historic for the wireless broadband industry as it ended with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approving WiMAX technology as a part of the IMT-2000 set of wireless network standards. Thanks to the relentless efforts by the WiMAX Forum this tremendous milestone was achieved. The next step will be bringing service fees to acceptable levels as service providers and handset manufacturers converge. See full article from WiMAX Forum.

New Tax for online music sale in Canada

Canada's Copyright Board has introduced a new tax for online music transactions according to a report from technology news portal EndgadgetMobile. This is somewhat similar to the fees levied against blank video and data media (CD, DVD, etc.) and will impact customizable radio portals like as pandora.com.

Rogers expands HSDPA to 22 Canadian markets

As Rogers Wireless continues the roll-out of its Next Generation wireless network (3G), HSDPA service is now available to subscribers in 25 Canadian markets. There is growing speculation that Rogers may opt to introduce the HTC iPhone to the Canadian market as a more technology capable mobile device, better suited for Rogers' network when compared to the hyped Apple phone. Rogers is currently promoting a suite of mobile video services codenamed "Vision" and this ongoing campaign coincides nicely with the recent HSDPA launch. Lets see how this one is played out.

ICANN moves closer to multilingual TLDs

Internet domain name regulator ICANN is moving closer to allowing the use of domain names that are from languages using non-latin letters and numbers. ICANN has launched a test page that allows users to visit web pages with URLs in 11 languages not using roman letters or numbers. These languages are Arabic, Persian, simplified and traditional Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Japanese and Tamil. More.

iPhone Canada? Not so fast!

Comwave Telecom Inc is taking Apple Computers to task over use of its trademark "iPhone" name here in Canada. Apple seem to have gotten over the Cisco Inc hurdle when it launched in the USA by entering into an agreement to share the name which Cisco Inc now owns through its acquisition of Linksys. Now in Canada, Apple might not be able to launch its celebrated "i-Phone" as Comwave maintains it will no be able to share the trademark being used for sometime now. Apple prides itself in being innovative however the recent launch of the iPod Touch is also following the lead of HTC with their trademark Touch technology. Mac-phone Canada? More.

Canadian Driving Made Easy-ier: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa now Offers GPS Traffic Information

A couple of my colleagues were very boastful recently after we all headed to an off site location and they got there before me after leaving a full 10 minutes later than my group did. The advent of commercial GPS navigation systems marked a most significant advance in driving. In recent weeks the added feature of real time traffic update for drivers has been made available to three major Canadian cities on east coast.

Drivers in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are now accessing the Clear Channel’s Total Traffic Network which began broadcasting RDS-TMC data to Canada in early September. With this service GPS devices can access traffic information by way of a RDS-TMC receiver. The receiver accesses traffic information from FM radio broadcasts and passes this to the Garmin, TomTom or Mio GPS models that supports the system. GPS users are then notified about traffic status in the city due to traffic construction or accidents and could optionally provide alternate routes if required.

The prospect of a Google Phone

Google Inc could be in discussion with handset manufacturers and service providers to provide a "Google" type phone, Businessweek reported earlier this week. The proposed service would see subscribers receiving targeted location-based ads on their handsets as well as free call minutes when they viewed ads.

Nortel's ponders future, supports pan-European telecom regulator

Nortel Networks in a statement today dismissed talks of a mega-merger but still left the doors open for further acquisitions. The telecoms equipment manufacturer has been plagued with fraud and financial irregularities but continues to do brisk business in the largest emerging market. Nortel also announced the completion of a 40 Gbps-ready (OC-768) optical network between Stockholm and Helsinki for RASCOM, a Russian international carrier. More

Canada's cellphone companies face Class-action suit.

Canadian cellphone companies are heading to court in defence of a class-action lawsuit now certified by a Saskatchewan court. The suit, lodged by Montreal-based lawyer Tony Merchant, alleges that the carriers have misled Canadian subscribers into thinking that the access fee was a tax by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), when it was in fact and additional revenue stream for cellphone companies. More

"Hacker Proof" Security - EADS

The European Aeronautical Defense System (EADS) which is largely responsible for intelligence gathering for Western Europeans declared late last week that it had developed a new encryption technology, Ectocrypt, that is "Hacker Proof". I am not sure if this real or is it just to taunt/test the Russians. EADS executives are very confident this new technology will deliver, however PLA hackers worldwide will be working hard to prove otherwise as they have done in recent weeks. More