Bell and Rogers Make a Deal

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) have agreed to sell 75 per cent ownership to Bell Canada and Rogers Communication for a reported $1.32 billion. The two companies will each own 37.5 per cent equity interest.

MLSE own the Toronto Marlies, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto FC. They are reported to be the largest entertainment and sports company in Canada. The company also has real estate holdings as well as entertainment assets. These include the Maple Leaf Square condominium and commercial complex, the Air Canada Centre, along with three sports TV channels. MLSE is also the only partner of the NBA in Canada.

The transaction results with Bell and Rogers Media having the TV, digital online, mobile, and broadcast rights to all of the Toronto professional sports teams.

Following the required regulatory and league approvals the financial transaction will most likely close in the middle of 2012.

Bell and Rogers Join Forces And Buy MLSE

The company earned a net income of $327 million, equaling 58 cents per share. This marks an increase from last year’s posting of $310 million at 51 cents per share.

Overall revenue for Rogers was $3.15 billion, a 3 percent increase. The company saw the addition of 123,000 net wireless customers and 17,000 cable-based subscribers for the television, land-line and internet products.

The average Rogers’ wireless customer saw a roughly $3.00 decrease in fees with an average of $61.72 per month, down from nearly $65.00 during the previous quarter. Overall data revenue increased 32 percent.

Rogers’ competitors BCE Inc. and Telus posted strong high-end subscriber growth as a result of upgraded wireless networks. Rogers continues to lead the wireless market due to the ability to offer such in-demand products as Apple’s iPhone.

Rogers is also facing competition from upstarts such as Quebecor’s Videotron, which started offering wireless service last September including bundle options, and Globalive’s Wind Mobile, Mobilicity.

Rogers Communications, founded in 1920, has over 28,000 employees throughout Canada with total assets of more than $17 billion.

Rogers Communications Shows 5% Spike In Profits

Originally rumored over the summer, Rogers should have a stock of both models in time for the holiday season. Rogers began selling the Torch 9800 earlier this year in September. It contains a new operating system paired with a 624 MHz processor and 512 MB of storage space. The Torch responds to Wi-Fi and 3G. It houses a 5 megapixel camera and a HVGA screen.

The new operating system contains features such as universal search and a WebKit UI browser. The UI has been cleaned up and improved to be quicker and more responsive to users.

The Bold 9780 contains all of the same features as the Torch 9800. However, the Bold 9780 is slightly smaller and has some different visual styling to the case. The coloring is a pale white for both the Bold 9780 and the Torch 9800.

Bell is selling a white Bold 9780 as well. However Rogers appears to be the only retailer with a white Torch 9800 in Canada at this time. BlackBerry and Rogers declined to comment about whether other retailers would be selling the white Torch 9800.

Rogers’ online store is selling the Bold 9780 for $149.99. The Torch 9800 is $229.99. Both prices are for three year plans. There is no word on when the devices will be sold in stores, but it is likely to happen before the holiday season begins.

Rogers Receiving White Blackberry 9780 and Torch 9800 for Holidays

Canadians have the choice of using the phone on three different carriers who will subsidize part of the cost of the phone as part of a service agreement or the phone can be purchased at full price as an unlocked phone. Purchasing it unlocked enables buyers to use the cell phone using any carrier that they choose. This freedom comes with a price as the unlocked version of the iPhone 4 will retail for $659 CAD for a 16 GB version and $779 CAD for a 42 GB version. The iPhone 4 when purchased with a plan from one of the three carriers will slash hundreds off the phones cost.

The iPhone 4 in addition to being a cell phone comes with a built in movie player and music player. Also standard on the iPhone 4 are two cameras, a traditional camera for taking pictures and a camera to be used to broadcast the video of the phone’s owner when making video calls.

The iPhone 4 was released nearly two months ago in the United States and has been subject to criticism over the phone’s antenna. Caller’s complained of frequently dropped calls due to design of the phone that causes the phone to lose its signal when held a certain way. Apple is in the process of sending out millions of free rubber covers that will correct the issue after originally releasing a statement telling users to hold the phone a different way.

iPhone 4 Makes Canadian Debut

While earlier this month chief executive Steve Jobs stated the white iPhone 4 would be available by the end of July, the timetable has now been pushed back to an unknown date. The white iPhone 4 has not been available for purchase since the iPhone 4 began sales on June 15th. Black iPhone 4s have been back ordered as well. Apple has yet to release exact reasons for why the iPhone 4 is more challenging to produce with a white color when a black version has been available.

Apple has also released steps iPhone 4 owners can take to receive a free bumper case. The bumper cases stem from the iPhone 4′s notorious reception problems, dubbed “Antennagate”. The resolution is a well-delayed attempt to resolve the antenna issues after Apple first denied the issue, then blamed software and consumers for the difficulties.

Owners of the iPhone 4 will need to download the “iPhone 4 Case Program” from the iTunes App Store. After launching the program, owners will need to type in their iTunes Store account information or Apple ID. They will then be able to select their desired bumper or case from a variety. Apple will check the International Mobile Equipment Identity and serial number for verification of ownership.

Purchases prior to July 23rd require owners to apply for a case before August 22nd. Other buyers must apply within thirty days of their purchase. A refund is available for owners who have already bought a case or bumper. The program will run until September 30th, 2010. There is no word about purchases after that date.

Apple Delaying White iPhone 4; Details iPhone 4 Cases Plan

Apple’s latest iPhone 4, was released in America, on June 24th through AT&T Wireless. The latest iPhone is similar to it’s previous model, but with substantial upgrades. Battery life is longer lasting, and touchscreen display is enhanced. The iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera with flash, and has a new frontal camera for video chatting.

Controversy over the Apple iPhone, that has been brewing in America, is also addressed in The Canadian release. In the latest model of Apple’s iPhone there is said to be a defective antenna, which causes the phone to lose signal strength, when holding the phone in a particular way. The phone apparently also had problems with an exaggerated signal strength display on AT&T’s network. Software has been developed to help the problem. Steve Jobs, The CEO of Apple, has allowed the company to go forward with the Canadian release of the phone.

There is going to be an inclusion of free bumper cases. These bumper cases, sell for $30. They do not cover the face or back of the iPhone. They only cover the sides of the phone, which is where the antenna is located. These cases
have been proven to help alleviate the problems associated with the iPhone’s antenna.

Despite the controversy, Apple fans should be lined up in a similar fashion to that seen in America for the innovative company’s newest smart phone.

Take That Rogers, Telus Announces iPHone 4 Release Date

Nagy claims that if her name had been the only one on the bill, her husband would not have opened it.

Once her husband opened the bill he noticed a strange number on the bill.

Naturally, he called the phone number. The man she had been seeing answered the phone and disclosed the affair to her husband.

The other man told Nagy’s husband that he had had an affair with his wife about 3 weeks ago.

Nagy’s husband was so upset when he learned of the affair that he moved out of the home he shared with her and their children. Nagy is suing Rogers Wireless for six hundred thousand Canadian dollars. Rogers Wireless said that they included all three items on the bill together because that is what the couple had initially requested in the beginning.

Rogers also said that they cannot be held responsible for personal choices made on the part of their customers.

Woman Blames Rogers For Ending Her Marriage

Rogers managed to get itself in hot water with its customers when it also announced that there would be an option to add an iPad to an existing Rogers’ data plan for just $20. A similar offer was listed on Apple’s Canadian website. However, after several customers asked for clarification via Rogers’ website, company officials stated that the data-sharing option was an error and would be removed, angering many customers.

One posting on the Rogers’ website from a customer named David stated that “my excitement over getting 3G on an iPad has completely disappeared with your statement that the shared data plan was a mistake. Can you please explain to me why I am allowed to connect a netbook to my iPhone at no extra charge, but having a second 3G device consuming the exact same data plan is not allowed? It’s the same data.”

Apple is currently selling two different versions of the iPad. One version can connect to the internet only through a Wi-Fi signal while the other version can use Wi-Fi as well as 3G technology, the same that allows smartphones to connect to the internet to surf the web and access email. Rogers already allows customers to “tether” their smartphones to laptops to use them as modems.

Rogers’ customers are also upset with the company’s pricing plans for the upcoming iPads. While the 250 megabyte plan for $15 a month matches the same plan used by AT&T in the United States, many are outraged by Rogers’ 5 gigabytes for $35 a month plan. AT&T offers an unlimited data plan in the United States for $30 a month.

iPad Data Controversy Surrounding Rogers

Shaw Communications is unleashing a new gigabit internet technology for Canada’s high-speed internet access. It is now available to its customers and runs at 100mbps speed. It is called High-Speed Nitro and is being offered by Shaw in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

The service will be offered over Fiber-to-the-Home or FTTH and will be able to support new, emerging internet applications that need faster download speeds.

Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, states that this is a game-changing technology on the leading edge of bringing lightning-fast speeds for new network capabilities that will give the company a springboard for other possibilities in the future. “It’s really exciting to think how our customers could benefit from this technology,” he said.

Company sources report that Shaw will be the first provider in Canada to try the Gigabit Internet and plans to launch trial runs in April.

The service will not be cheap, however. The price will be around $150 a month. In Japan, 160-megabit connections sell for $60 a month and 120-megabit speeds sell for $100 a month in parts of Europe. Shaw’s pricing is in-line with many of the prices being charged for internet in the United States, but both the U.S. and Canada have been recently criticized for a lack of competition in broadband, resulting in slower speeds and higher prices than those of their competitors in other parts of the world.

A recent study by Harvard University found Canada to be ranked 22nd out of 30 countries after availability, speeds, and pricing were taken into account. The U.S. placed 13th.

Included in the Harvard study, it was found that European and Asian countries have better broadband because governments have enacted open-access rules that allow internet providers to share infrastructure. Canada and the U.S. focused on promoting so-called “inter-modal” systems where cable and phone companies compete against each other, creating a duopoly in both Canada and the U.S.

The U.S. government is putting together a national broadband plan. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski proposed the “100 squared” initiative last week, which will have 100 million homes connected to the internet with 100-megabit technology by 2020. The plan is being taken to Congress where the government could get involved in building some of the infrastructure.

Internet search engine giant Google is also building experimental networks that could bring one-gigabit speeds to several U.S. cities and towns which will show what can be done with super-fast speeds.

Shaw To Test Super Awesome 1-Gbps Fiber-Optic Broadband Service

In early 2009, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission began to place mandates on all Canadian cellular providers to offer location-based 911 services by February of this year. Prior to these mandates, a landline phone was easily mapped to determine where a caller was located. You could only determine an approximation of where the person was based on the nearest cell phone tower.

Now, emergency responders will be able to be accurately routed to the nearest emergency response center, which has been achieved by using GPS and triangulation technology to determine the exact longitude and latitude of a person’s whereabouts. However, the accuracy of this new technology will depend on the model of the phone, in addition to the reception in the area where that call might be made. The range will be between 10 and 300 meters of the caller, which in a rural area could have went as far as 20 kilometers prior to the 911 upgrades.

Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC, is pleased that wireless service providers have upgraded their 911 services. Now, Canada is one of a few countries where 911 operators will be able to receive location information the moment a call is made from a cellular device. Canadians’ safety will be improved as a result of these changes.

121 call centers across Canada have used the new technology, but 9 call centers are still experiencing technical issues that will be fixed within the coming weeks, according to the CRTC.

This new technology will also offer emergency responders greater ability to connect to people in the case of an emergency.

Cellular Services In Canada Improve 911 Services