Convergence Consulting has released a forecast [Summary pdf ] for the Canadian mobile wireless market that predicts penetration rising from the current level of 64% to 96% in 2015.

Over the next 7 years, new entrants are expected to take 24% of the subscribers, which would seem to imply that the current carriers will continue to grow their customer base by about 12%. The report calls for Shaw, Quebecor and Globalive to each land 7%.

The report credits lower prices with accelerating industry subscriber growth rates to about 1.8 million per year (2010-2015) up from 1.45 million in 2007-2009. Twenty percent of Canadian households are expected to be “wireless only” by year-end 2015, nearly triple the 7.6% in that situation this year.

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wireless

I now have student mobile plans in Montreal and Los Angeles. Not theoretical analyst studies – real life accounts with bills being paid with real money.

I am not seeing spectacular bargains in the home of the brave and it certainly isn’t the land of the free!

Our Montreal student enjoys a plan that provides 200 peak minutes with unlimited evenings and weekends. Evenings start at 6pm. We have a message pack as well. All this, including system access fees, 911 fees, and all that jazz for the low, low monthly price of $30.

In LA, our student has 450 daytime minutes and virtually unlimited (5000 minutes) nights and weekends, but nights begin at 9pm. All the minutes are US nationwide. He gets 200 text messages, but the number applies to sending and receiving, not just outbound. He is paying $38 (thanks to a special 15% affinity discount associated with his university).

Where are the great deals south of the border?

The is some kvetching about wireless contracts [read the comments] at Michael Geist’s blog and at Wireless North. There are already lots of choices in the marketplace with and without contracts; with and without extra fees. More choice is on its way with a number of new entrants.

Is regulation of a competitive market really an appropriate solution?

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wireless

The National Post had a story yesterday that covers an exchange between a government lawyer and Athanasios Hadjis, a member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

According to the lawyer, Section 13 [Hate messages] of the Human Rights Act now covers “anyone who puts the written word down in digital form.”

The tribunal member asked whether it is fair to hold Web site owners accountable for what others write in comment sections.

While the interchange in the National Post covered hate, does that question also apply to defamation? What is the responsibility of a blogger or webmaster to remove comments that are defamatory in nature?

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National Post, Human Rights Act, hate, hate, illegal content

Zachary Pincus-Roth had an interesting story in the LA Times on Sunday: Remembering movies before the cellphone.

He isn’t talking about the disturbance caused by ringing; the article speaks of the impact on story lines when access to communications is ubiquitous.

How do writers build suspense when cell phones are so widely available?

A powerful sign of cellphones’ impact is the number of famous stories of the past that wouldn’t work in the post-Verizon era. For instance, how would they affect the end of “The Graduate,” when Benjamin Braddock sprints through Santa Barbara to find Elaine before she gets married?
…
To some audience members, cellphones signify so many of society’s ills — the reliance on technology, the faster pace of life, the disconnect among fellow human beings — that the device is distasteful no matter how it’s used.

Buck Henry co-wrote The Graduate and was a creator of Get Smart where TV audiences were introduced to Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone 20 years before the launch of cellular service. He groans when he sees a mobile phone on screen.

It reminds the audience — or a large percentage of it — that they might have a message in their pocket.

You can listen to an interview with the author of the article by going to the National Public Radio website.

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LA Times, Zachary Pincus-Roth

I have spent the past 10 days logging 5000 kms of driving to move my son into graduate school. We had an interesting experience with establishing a bank account that speaks volumes about the importance of personal relationships over the anonymity of the internet.

My son had tried to open an account on-line but in the bank’s zeal to protect against identity theft, it ended up blacklisting him and he was told that the bank did not want him as a customer. He was told that the bank was doing this to protect the real Alex Goldberg.

So, they are supposedly issuing a cashier’s cheque to refund his initial deposit. That will take 2-3 weeks, while they sit on his money.

We went into a real branch and spoke to a real manager who is working to really protect the real Alex Goldberg and undo the smirch on his credit file.

This is an interesting case where my son was harmed by identity theft, without his identity ever being stolen! None of these problems would have occurred had he simply waited an extra few days to show up at the bank in person.

We’ll see how long it takes for the full resolution. Stay tuned!

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identity theft