WIND Mobile: A green light and a clean slate for mobile in Canada

Earlier today, the Canadian government overturned the CRTC’s ruling that Globalive would not be permitted to operate its WIND mobile service in Canada due to its foreign ownership structure. That means the 500 employees current twiddling their thumbs could be put to work as speculation indicates that Globalive could launch as early as next week.

Based on my own informal surveys, I have found that 99% of Canadians I spoke with are unhappy with the present state of wireless in this country. Poor customer service, complex pricing schemes and most of all price have been the major factors of their unhappiness.

Nobody I spoke with was able to tell me they were ‘happy’ with the performance, pricing and support from their existing wireless carrier.

WIND has been paying special attention to these frustrations and have been busy building a greenfield mobile service offering that starts with a clean slate. Specifically, WIND has been busy asking Canadians what THEY want to see in a mobile carrier. Based on the chatter on the WIND forums website, there has certainly no lack of feedback.

I have a year and a half left on my Rogers mobile contract and since WIND has no plans to launch the iPhone, I won’t be in a position to consider switching for some time. That being said, I am interested in the conversation that WIND has started and a lot can happen in a year and a half and if they deliver on their promise of building a mobile carrier that Canadians can believe in.

Update: Apparently the WIND Mobile price plans have been ‘leaked’ to the Boy Genius Report.

To learn more:

• WIND mobile website: www.windmobile.ca
• Additional coverage: CBC, National Post, Globe and Mail.