Don’t believe everything you read on blogs – other than this one, of course.
The iPhone sold out in many Rogers stores this past weekend, delivering the best sales weekend in the company’s history, despite the hostility expressed towards Rogers on so many blogs and websites.
I have to wonder if this is a case of digerati being too inwardly focussed to have properly measured the pulse of the average person on the street.
Is this a reason that traffic shaping hasn’t attracted more public attention?
Last month, in our opening comments at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit, Michael Sone and I called for the government to take some of the more than $2B windfall from the AWS spectrum auction to invest in initiatives to stimulate demand for broadband from under-serviced segments.
At the time, we also suggested a new approach to distributing the funds, in order to avoid picking winners by subsidizing one service provider over another. Since then, a number of other voices have joined our call for the proceeds from the AWS auction to be used for a new national broadband program.
A week ago, I predicted the end of the the end of bidding in the AWS spectrum auction. I might as well have predicted the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup.
Just like the kids singing “This is the song that never ends” on a summer driving trip, it seems that this is the auction that never ends.
For the past week, we have watched bidding on a limited number of spectrum properties go back and forth, but continuing to hover in the neighbourhood of $4.2B. Out of 220 pieces of spectrum that are up for grabs, some rounds have seen activity on only one block. For a number of days, bidding changed by tens of thousands – rounding error when the total is measured in the billions.
Industry Canada is now running 15 auction rounds per day to try to bring this process to close.
In the meantime, uncertainty remains as a market overhang. Would-be new entrants can’t finalize their license approvals or get started building their networks, or finalizing their business plans.
Is something wrong with the auction design that is keeping us in limbo? Are there mechanical changes that could help bring the auction to a more timely conclusion?
As a side note, let me refer you to an article written last week by former CRTC vice-chair Rick French in the National Post, talking about changing the spectrum auction from a license to outright ownership.
What is with the continued negative publicity on the Rogers iPhone?
Friday’s launch gave Canadians the latest generation device on the same day as it was available anywhere with among the lowest prices in the world.
People seem to still be griping that Rogers has a cap on data at 6GB. Can we try to put 6GB in perspective?
Remember that your cable internet, shared between all the computers in the house, has a cap of 60GB for $45.
I suspect that most people will find that 6GB is virtually unlimited. Indeed, it seems that most US carriers that advertise ‘unlimited data’ actually impose limits – lower limits than Rogers’ 6GB offer.
Of course, some people like to find things to complain about.
Maybe it is time to kvetch about something more important – like the weather.
Showing that Rogers isn’t too big to listen to its customers, it has made an announcement to re-energize the buzz surrounding the global launch of iPhone 3G tomorrow morning.
Rogers has come out with a $30 data plan that will provide 6GB of data for customers who activate between now and the end of August.
The plan will also apply to a number of other smart phones from Rogers in addition to the iPhone 3G:
Samsung i616 (“Jack”)
Motorola Q9H
HTC TyTN
Palm Treo 750
Nokia N95
BlackBerry Bold (when available)
HP 910c (when available)
For those who show up as the doors open at 8 am at 6 Rogers Plus store across the country, breakfast will be served as well as draws for special prizes.
