TORONTO — Filling in network service patches is at the top of Wind Mobile’s to-do list for 2015, regardless of whether or not the company aligns with another wireless player, its new chief executive says.
“We need to cover certain black spots where we don’t have coverage because of a lack of towers, of radio stations,” Pietro Cordova, who was named CEO in late October, said in an interview Tuesday.
The former COO took up the helm of the carrier after a group of investors led by Wind’s founder, former CEO and current chairman Anthony Lacavera, bought the majority stake held by Amsterdam-based VimpelCom in September for $135 million and the assumption of roughly $150 million of debt.
“The last year we were fully funded was 2012 and for two years it was very hard to plan large infrastructure developments, but now we are back with the wheels in motion,” he said. “We have planned well above 100 sites, mainly within Toronto and Vancouver. We need to inject some radio muscle in the network to restore speed and reliability. We have a very intense work plan now that we have a fully funded budget in place. Within the next few months you will see the conditions improving in our areas. This is something that we will do regardless of any spectrum acquisition.”
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Nevertheless, the carrier is keenly interested in acquiring more spectrum this year, which it needs in order to roll out an LTE wireless network that would allow it to better compete with the faster LTE capabilities of Canada’s Big Three wireless players: Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. Wind wants to deploy LTE starting at the end of 2015 or in early 2016.
Despite some service inconsistencies, Wind will end 2014 with steady growth in its user base to 800,000 subscribers, up 20% from 670,000 in 2013. It’s still dwarfed by the bigger players: BCE and Telus have just under 8 million wireless customers each and Rogers has 9.5 million. (Quebecor-owned Vidéotron has about 590,000 wireless customers in Quebec; Mobilicity, under creditor protection for more than a year, has fewer than 160,000 customers.)
Wind Mobile launched five years ago after Ottawa held a spectrum auction in order to provide competition for the telecom incumbents. Before the launch of Mobilicity and Public Mobile in 2010, Wind predicted it would reach 1.5 million subscribers within two years, but the subscriber base ended up being largely split between the startups.
Today, Mr. Cordova believes Wind will hit a base of 1 million subscribers by the end of 2015, and is sanguine about the market dynamics that appear to be working in the carrier’s favour compared with a year ago: The CRTC’s wireless code came into effect for cellphone providers, putting an end to three-year contracts between customers and wireless companies and giving lower-cost players such as Wind an opening to attract more subscribers. And in addition to the much-needed breathing room Wind gained after the buyout this fall, the federal government has made it a priority for the country to establish a sustainable fourth wireless carrier and is holding two wireless spectrum auctions next year. In addition, Quebecor is keen to establish a base of wireless subscribers beyond its home province: CEO Pierre Dion said in June that company would consider acquiring either Wind, Mobilicity, or both.
“We now have several options in front of us that are all extremely healthy, and that can be pursued in combination,” Mr. Cordova said. “Wind at this point has several options to acquire spectrum. Clearly the government has made a good effort to make sure that that spectrum is made accessible to us. Today we have an attitude of keeping our head down and working hard to pursue our objectives, and if one of the solutions is a deal with Mobilicity or Quebecor, so be it. If it’s not, we have other plans.”
Wind will be ready for its private-equity holders to exit via an initial public offering in two to three years, if investors decide to take that route, Mr. Cordova said.
Financial Post, with a file from Bloomberg News
Source:: National Post
