Canadians may be giving Fido to their loved ones this Christmas.
But Fido is not a dog. It’s the spunky brand name for Microcell Telecommunications Inc.’s personal communications service scheduled to be available in Montreal in time for the holidays.
“We wanted to find a word that would be non-technical,” said Microcell President and Chief Executive Officer Andre Tremblay. Microcell wants to convey that its Fido service is user-friendly, “the phone that follows you everywhere,” he added.
The company is using Global System for Mobile communications technology, with equipment supplied by L.M. Ericsson and Northern Telecom Ltd.
The Montreal company is one of four licensed last December to provide broadband PCS. Clearnet PCS Inc., a unit of Pickering, Ontario-based Clearnet Communications Inc., expects to start Code Division Multiple Access-based service commercially in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver by the middle of next year. Mobility Canada and Rogers Cantel Mobile Inc. of Toronto-Canada’s two cellular operators-cannot launch service in any market until one of the new entrants launches.
Microcell and Clearnet each won a 30-megahertz nationwide license for PCS while Mobility and Rogers were apportioned only 10-megahertz licenses.
Industry Canada requires cellular carriers Rogers and Mobility to open their cellular networks for resale to PCS providers Microcell and Clearnet outside of their coverage areas. So from launch, customers of Microcell and Clearnet will receive coverage akin to current cellular customers.
Clearnet is using equipment supplied by Lucent Technologies Canada Inc. Ericsson is Rogers’ chief supplier of Time Division Multiple Access equipment. The company currently provides 70 percent TDMA coverage at 800 MHz. Mobility Canada members have selected CDMA as their national standard, to be introduced on either 800 MHz or 1900 MHz frequencies.
Microcell expects to start service in Ottawa and Quebec City during the first quarter, and in Vancouver and Toronto by mid-1997. Ericsson is providing equipment for Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City and Nortel will build the remaining network.
Microcell’s approach is to separate the network from service. Spectrum on the company’s network, Microcell Connexions, can be leased by others who want to offer PCS services, said Tremblay. Microcell Solutions is Microcell’s own service provider.
Fido will be marketed on “the premise that people are very intelligent. People don’t like being in contracts that are longer than their own mortgage,” said Tremblay. Fido will be a mass market service. “I think mass market means simplicity; it means a low-cost structure (based) on a flow process not on (the basis of) a business’ cost.”
Packaging will be simple. Sales will be direct to the consumer to reduce the per subscriber acquisition cost incurred by current cellular carriers. Fido may be sold through Microcell Solutions’ own retail stores and on television.
Tremblay said he expects Microcell will cover 40 percent of the Canadian population by the end of 1997. The company committed 60 percent coverage to Industry Canada within five years. Microcell currently employs about 400 people.
Clearnet spokeswoman Pym Buitenhuis said it will expand PCS service into Canada’s 33 remaining large population centers by the end of 1998.
The company recently launched its enhanced specialized mobile radio business communications service, dubbed “Mike,” which targets business users. But in marketing Mike, Clearnet aims to prime consumers for PCS.
“Mike is a business tool, but we did go on TV with it,” said Buitenhuis. “We needed to be out of the box. Our advertisements are really wacky and funny.” PCS pricing and rate plans will be structured like Mike, she added.
The ESMR service is offered without a contract and without the activation fee required by many cellular carriers. Clearnet offers three simple plans for Mike and per-second billing. Customers can buy or lease a phone, and receive volume discounts by leasing. PCS will do the same, said Buitenhuis.
Clearnet wants to communicate its PCS will be a low-cost and viable alternative to cellular service. There is “general dissatisfaction with current cellular service,” explained Buitenhuis. She said analog cellular networks in larger cities are clogged and full. “People are frustrated.”
Buitenhuis also said cellular service still is viewed by Canadians as a luxury item and status symbol.
Clearnet will offer dual-mode, PCS digital and analog cellular handsets.
Clearnet PCS has grown from 100 employees 18 months ago to 700 today. The Friends of Clearnet program encourages research and development firms to introduce software applications.
Both Rogers and Bell Mobility, the largest Mobility Canada member, plan to market PCS with the thrust being digital.
CDMA will be a national digital standard among Mobility Canada companies, said Charlotte Burke, director of PCS for Bell Mobility. However, each member will launch CDMA on independent schedules and can choose which frequency to launch first. Most members must offer 1.9 GHz service within the next few years in major metropolitan areas.
Bell Mobility intends to rapidly follow the new PCS entrants, said Burke. The company will launch in about nine months, probably in Montreal, with dual-band, dual-mode from Sony Corp. and Oki telecom. Nortel is supplying network infrastructure.
