Canadian carrier Wind Mobile has inked a roaming agreement with an unnamed “new domestic partner”, rumoured to be the country’s third-largest operator Telus.
The telco said that, as a result of the deal, it has increased its coverage by 14% across…
Canadian carrier Wind Mobile has inked a roaming agreement with an unnamed “new domestic partner”, rumoured to be the country’s third-largest operator Telus.
The telco said that, as a result of the deal, it has increased its coverage by 14% across the country and by 40% in British Columbia, fuelling speculation that its new roaming partner could be Telus, which is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Wind was able to sign up a new roaming partner following recent changes to certain telecoms rules, which now ban the largest players from imposing exclusivity clauses and high rates in roaming agreements.
Although the telco, which now claims to cover 97% of Canada’s population, ranks fourth among the country’s mobile operators with nearly 800,000 subscribers, the top three – Rogers, BCE and Telus – hold a combined 90% market share.
The roaming agreement comes a couple of months after VimpelCom sold its stake in Wind to the carrier’s founder and chairman, Anthony Lacavera, and a consortium of private equity investors for C$135m (US$122.4m).
Since then, Lacavera, who was already a controlling shareholder in Wind, has pledged to significantly invest capital with the aim of purchasing spectrum and growing Wind Mobile’s business across Canada.
