Carrier Wrap: Worldwide carrier revenue up 1% in 2013; Quebecor set to be Canada’s No. 4

Editor’s Note: Wireless operators are a busy bunch, and as such RCR Wireless News will attempt to gather some of the important announcements that may slip through the cracks from the world’s largest carriers in a weekly wrap-up. Enjoy!
–A new report from Infonetics Research showed that in 2013, mobile operators worldwide took in $800 billion in revenues from services tied to mobile voice, messaging and broadband, which was a 1% increase compared with 2012. The report noted that growth was on the backs of mobile operators based in Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin America, and North America, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa posting year-over-year drops.
“Europe dragged global mobile service revenue again in 2013, plagued by mobile saturation and weak consumer spending across the board-even in Germany, the Euro zone’s largest economy-and fierce price-based competition in markets including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands,” explained Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.
Téral noted that the competitive pressure across Europe has resulted in executives at the region’s five largest operators – Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Vodafone – to ask the European Commission to allow for more consolidation across the region. That consolidation would take competitors from the current four or five in larger markets to just three mobile operators.
Breaking out the worldwide numbers, Infonetics found that mobile broadband services fueled the limited growth in 2013, offsetting decreasing voice and messaging revenues; voice services are expected to account for at least 50% of total revenues through 2016; and that LTE services will account for half of mobile broadband revenues by 2018.
–Canadian wireless spectrum holder and media company Quebecor said it was ready to expand its presence in the country’s wireless market under the Videotron brand, bringing what it termed a “fourth competitor” to the Canadian market.
“Our vision is to provide Canadians with a new high quality, low-cost wireless choice and real wireless competition,” said Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Dion in a keynote speech at the 2014 Canadian Telecom Summit. “We aim to deliver real low-cost wireless plans for consumers, real wireless competition and a real new offering in the Canadian marketplace. Under the right conditions, we are ready, willing and able to become Canada’s fourth wireless competitor.”
Montreal-based Quebecor currently offers Videotron services in parts of Quebec tapping into 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum licenses it acquired in 2008 for more than $550 million. The company recently acquired seven paired, 10-megahertz spectrum licenses for $210 million covering 28 million pops during the country’s 700 MHz spectrum auction. Those licenses covered Quebec, as well as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Quebecor said the company would look to offer consumers “competitive voice, data and roaming plans currently only available in Europe and Australia,” with it able to provide true competition to the country’s larger operators – Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Bell Canada – as “a fourth competitor who is experienced, well-financed, well-equipped, highly entrepreneurial and customer-focused.” The company added that it has so far invested more than $1.6 billion in its wireless network and spectrum assets.
Dion did hint that in order for Quebecor to become a compelling rival the Canadian government needed to enact “a fair and competitive federally regulated roaming policy” that would allow Videotron to offer competitive, nationwide services. The company cited a Competition Bureau of Canada report that said “incumbent players have used the roaming policy as a ‘strategic tool to eliminate or reduce the competitive pressure … in Canadian mobile wireless markets.’”
In addition to spectrum licenses acquired through auctions, Quebecor last year announced a deal with Rogers to pool resources across the provinces of Quebec and Ottawa to build out and operate a shared LTE network. Financial terms of the 20-year agreement call for Rogers to pay Videotron $93 million and for Videotron to pay Rogers $200 million over a 10-year period.
—Verizon Wireless rolled out a new box for its Certified Pre-Owned Replacement Program, which will replace the generic, plastic cases previously used to send out pre-owned devices. The carrier explained that the new packaging “creates a better phone un-boxing experience for the customer” and prevents the device from lateral movement during shipping.

Verizon Wireless said the new box is made from 100% recycled, post-consumer waste paper, using soy ink and wind-powered presses, and the packing does not contain any plastic.
—Sprint announced a deal with HDtracks to provide customers with the HTC One Harmon Kardon edition or LG G2 smartphones with a free music sampler featuring The Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye, Tori Amos and others in a 24-bit audio quality format. Both of those devices include HD Audio capabilities.
Sprint launched the HTC One Harmon Kardon edition in late April as part of its overall music strategy that included a partnership with Spotify.
Check out RCR Wireless News’ review of the HTC One Harmon Kardon edition.
The deal also will provide Sprint users with access to all of HDtracks 24-bit tracks.
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
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