Public Mobile name not going anywhere: Telus

The Public Mobile brand will remain active for the foreseeable future despite a move to abandon the network its customers are using, a Telus Corp. spokesman said Friday. “The brand continues and the name continues,” said Telus’ Shawn Hall in a phone interview. “The rate plans, largely, continue as they have been. What really is changing is the network. And customers will, once they make the transition, immediately start enjoying a national network with much faster data speeds.” Public Mobile’s network coverage was previously confined to the areas in and around Toronto and Montreal. Now, Hall said, those customers will be able to travel across the country without encountering roaming fees. Hall said Public Mobile customers are moving from an “outdated” CDMA network to a more advanced HSPA network. The Wire Report had previously reported that Public Mobile customers would need to buy new phones in order to use the new network, though they would be offered discounts on certain devices. Public Mobile had 280,000 subscribers at the time its acquisition was approved by federal authorities. Hall said Public Mobile customers will also be eligible for at least one free month of service, and they have the option of getting their new phones any time between May and August. Industry Minister James Moore weighed in Thursday on the move by Telus to shut down Public Mobile's network, saying that it might “alienate” the customers it brought over when it purchased the startup in late 2013, according to media reports. “Seems like an odd business decision to alienate thousands of Public Mobile users as you absorb Public Mobile itself,” Moore said to the Globe and Mail on Thursday, while on a trade mission in Germany. “Ultimately it’s a business decision I’ll leave for Telus to explain.” Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose said in a Friday research note that Moore’s comments were “amusing” given the minister’s lack of experience running a wireless carrier. “Surely Moore understands that the obvious drivers of TELUS acquisition of Public Mobile were its spectrum and tax losses, not its subscriber base and that Public Mobile’s pricing was unsustainably low,” Ghose said. In buying Public Mobile, Ghose noted, Telus picked up 10 MHz of G band spectrum in Ontario and Quebec. Regulators cleared the way for Telus to take over Public Mobile last November. The government had blocked Telus' attempted takeover of Mobilicity, which is in bankruptcy protection, citing a lack of competition. — With reporting and editing by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca and Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Public Mobile name not going anywhere: Telus

News | March 28, 2014

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Public Mobile name not going anywhere: Telus

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