Canadian wireless is going to change

Virgin [unused?] wireless will -- finally, come December -- be a reality in Canada according to this story. A snip:

Flamboyant entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson is bringing his Virgin Mobile wireless brand to Canada later this year, hoping to shake up the market by aggressively going after people younger than 25 in a partnership with Bell Mobility Inc.

Gee, under 25 -- isn't that the heart of the future for wireless: SMS, MMS, m-commerce, . . . ?

Must be. Here's Bell Mobility's perspective:

For Bell, the Virgin deal was the best way to go after customers younger than 25, said Michael Neuman, Bell Mobility president. Although Bell has a brand called Solo aimed at the same people, Mr. Neuman said Bell was "particularly excited" about the prospects for the Virgin name in Canada.

Good-bye Solo!
Another snip:

The average consumer really doesn't understand how much they're paying for their phone and they resent that," said Will Whitehorn, a Virgin Group director. "They have to work out buckets of minutes and what time of day they can use it. We will break that mould."
Current pay-as-you-go plans have many variations and often carry restrictions, such as much more expensive calling during the day. Virgin Mobile Canada's service will be similar to what it offers in the United States, where the first 10 minutes of use each day cost 25 cents and all minutes thereafter, daytime and evening, are 10 cents.

Billing and service clarity? How novel.

So, what with Fido being propped up by Craig McCaw, et al's $50,000,000-plus, it looks like the times they are a changin'.

Posted by Grayson at March 31, 2004 08:01 AM