Thankyou to John Hurricane Helmsley for posting the following FAQ on alt.cellular.clearnet. It clears up a lot of the more technical questions regarding the press releases yesterday regarding the new roaming arrangements between Telus Mobility, Bell Mobility, and many other Canadian wireless networks.
Faxed to my office from Mr. Ty Hott from Telus Mobility. What's in it for TELUS MOBILITY? Q: What are our deals with Bell Mobility and Aliant all about? A: The agreements announced today with Bell Mobility, its affiliates and the Aliant Telecom Wireless companies enhance our existing roaming and resale rights with those companies. These new agreements reduce the cost of accessing each other's digital networks in smaller population centres and rural areas where we don't have our own coverage. In other words, TELUS Mobility can now affordably market our services to millions of people in areas in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada outside our current urban-focused digital coverage, while offering our clients greatly extended, seamless digital service throughout Eastern Canada. Similarly, Bell Mobility will now have lower-cost access to our digital networks in smaller centres and rural areas in Western Canada. Q: What are the benefits for TM? A: Huge coverage improvement - The agreement will provide a larger digital footprint for our clients nationwide. More points of distribution - TELUS will be able to expand our points of distribution by adding additional 450 points of distribution (under coverage) to sell TELUS products. We will save hundreds of millions of dollars -The money we save can now be focused on the expansion of the Mike network. Competitive coverage - The agreement will allow us to remain competitive with our coverage footprint. Q: Are these agreements new? A: These agreements are not new but are rather enhancements to an existing roaming/resale agreement that was in place before the Clearnet merger. Before the Clearnet merger, the agreement was used by TELUS Mobility to offer wireless service in Ontario using Bell Mobility's network, and is being used now by Bell Mobility to offer service in BC and Alberta using our network until it can build its own. The enhancements announced today apply only to Bell Mobility, its affiliates and Aliant. Q: Which companies are part of the deals? A: TELUS Mobility has signed separate agreements with Bell Mobility (Ontario and Quebec), which also covers its affiliates NorTel Mobility (Northern Ontario), Télébec Mobilité (various parts of Quebec) and Northwestel Mobility (northeastern BC and the territories), and with the Aliant Telecom Wireless companies - MTT Mobility (service in Nova Scotia), NBTel Mobility (New Brunswick), NewTel Mobility (Newfoundland) and IslandTel Mobility (PEI). Q: Do the new agreements mean we have a closer relationship with Bell Mobility and Aliant? A: No. TELUS Mobility will continue to compete aggressively against Bell Mobility, Aliant and the other Canadian wireless carriers across the country with both PCS and Mike. This is a practical agreement that greatly and affordably extends our national digital coverage, allows us to avoid spending hundreds of millions in network expansion in non-urban areas and means access to competitive new wireless services for millions of Canadians. Q: With Bell Mobility able to use our digital coverage, have we lost advantage in Western Canada? A: TELUS Mobility has many advantages over its competitors, particularly in Western Canada, including our established urban PCS network, our unique Mike offering, our extensive distribution, our localized client care, our strong brand and community presence and of course our thousands of seasoned TELUS Mobility team members throughout the West and across Canada. We're confident these advantages place us in the premier position in Canadian wireless, especially in the West. Q: How will this change our network build plans/expenditure going forward? A: We will continue to enhance and expand our PCS network coverage, with a particular focus on in-building coverage in urban centres. Of course, we will also continue with our ongoing expansion and enhancement of The Mike Network. What's in it for Bell Mobility and Aliant Telecom? Q: What are the benefits for other parties in the agreements? A: Bell Mobility estimates it gains access to 2.3 million new POPs and avoids in excess of $500 million in capital expenditures. Bell will still be required to invest at least $180 million in building its own digital coverage in urban centres in BC and Alberta, as it has previously announced. The Aliant Telecom Wireless companies gain more affordable roaming access to our Western Canada network but we do not expect they will compete directly with TELUS Mobility anywhere outside their home territories in Atlantic Canada. Q: Can Bell now simply enter Alberta and BC without building its own network? A: Although Bell Mobility always could enter BC and Alberta without building its own networks, these agreements are designed to facilitate roaming/resale on digital networks in small centres and rural areas. They specifically discourage off-loading of urban traffic by any of the participants where their networks overlap. As announced, Bell plans to spend more than $180 million to build its own urban network in Alberta and BC. What's in it for our clients? Q: What are the benefits for clients? A: Our clients will now be able to access our digital services over a vastly expanded area in Eastern Canada, which is particularly appealing to large corporate/enterprise clients seeking seamless coverage from a single national provider. Q: Where will TELUS Mobility clients notice the most benefits? A: Our clients in Eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec and Maritimes) and clients from Western Canada roaming in the East will benefit the most from this agreement. They will begin to experience significant coverage improvements in early 2002. Q: When will the new agreements/services take effect? A: The agreements go into effect in early 2002 for a 10-year term. Clients will need to have tri-mode phones with new software to take full advantage of these enhancements. We are developing a program for implementation in early 2002 that will allow owners of current tri-mode phones to have their phones reflashed (software updated) to take advantage of the enhancements. Q: What are some of the new markets we will now be able to affordably access? A: We will now be able to access, and soon market our digital products in, centres such as Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia, North Bay, Timmins, Cornwall, Chatham, Belleville, Woodstock, Stratford, Brockville, Trenton and the Muskoka Lakes area in Ontario; Beauport, Chicoutimi, Jonquiere, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Aylmer and Val d'Or in Quebec; Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton in New Brunswick; St. John's in Newfoundland; Charlottetown in PEI; and Sydney and Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. As well, we will now have seamless coverage for many important traffic corridors, such as the 400-series highways in Ontario, and major routes in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Q: When will we have distribution in these markets? A: We will expand into new digital markets on a case-by-case basis. However, TELUS Mobility's current retail partners already have in place approximately 450 additional retail points able to sell TELUS Mobility products in the new areas we can address. Q: How will this affect our analog roaming partnership with Rogers/dual mode phones? A: TELUS Mobility clients with dual-mode phones will continue to roam on the Rogers AT&T Wireless analog network when they are outside our digital coverage areas in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Some of our dual-mode phones roam on Rogers' analog network in Saskatchewan and the Atlantic, but all our dual and tri-mode phones will eventually roam on both SaskTel and Aliant's digital and analog networks. Q: What happens to an existing Tri-mode handset client? A: A reflash/swap program will begin in early 2002 for clients who want their tri-mode phones to be able to fully access the Bell Mobility and Aliant networks. Many phones will be able to be reprogrammed wirelessly, though some clients will need to visit a dealership location. Clients will not have to reflash their phones in order for their phones to work on our current network structure. They can continue to use our current service, or reflash/upgrade in order to obtain better digital coverage. Q: What happens to an existing Dual mode handset client? A: Clients with Dual Mode handsets will continue to roam off of the Rogers analog network as they do currently. Q: How does this impact our existing Single Mode phones A: Single Mode handsets will continue to receive digital coverage from the TELUS Mobility network only. Q: Will we continue to sell dual mode and single mode PCS phones? A: We will continue to sell through our existing dual mode and single mode stock, however, majority of new Pcs handsets going forward will be Tri-mode phones and will utilize the Bell Roaming Agreement. Q: How can existing clients take advantage of this expanded roaming coverage? A: A reflash/swap program will begin in early 2002 for clients who want their tri-mode phones to be able to fully access the Bell Mobility and Aliant networks. Q: Will reprogramming involve over the air configuration? A: Many phones will be able to be reprogrammed wirelessly, though some clients will need to visit a dealership location. Q: Will this roaming agreement impact our price plans or billing to clients? A: The roaming agreement will not have any impact on our rate plans or the way in which we bill our clients. Q: Will all of our current features be available when roaming on our competitors network? A: All our digital services, such as Pocket Web, will work the same as they do on our network. Bell is working now to digitize its entire Ontario/Quebec network, and will have the majority of it completed by 2002. The deal with Aliant also offers us access to its analog network (as well as digital) throughout Atlantic Canada; digital services will not apply when we roam on analog of course. Q: Can Mike clients expect to benefit from this in any way? A: Mike clients roam off of the IDEN network and are not directly affected by this agreement. However, we will now have more capital (and opportunity) to expand our Mike network. What's in it for Me (Client Operations)? Q: How will this impact churn? A: This agreement will be positive for churn, as clients who are leaving due to inadequate coverage in certain areas will stay and take advantage of our increased coverage area. Existing clients who want to take advantage of the new roaming agreement can do so by having their handset re-flashed or upgrading to a Tri-mode handset. Existing clients do not have to upgrade their phone if they are happy with the coverage they are currently receiving. Q: Will this mean a reflash/swap program for existing clients? A: Yes, we will be implementing a reflash/swap program in early 2002 for clients who wish to have their phones reflashed to be able to fully access the Bell Mobility and Aliant networks. Q: How does this impact the existing Roaming Migration Program currently taking place? A: The current migration program is directed at former Clearnet clients in Alberta and British Columbia and will continue. The new Bell Mobility and Aliant Agreement will mostly affect clients in the East who are currently roaming on the Rogers AT&T analog network. Q: Will we remain competitive? A: The agreement will allow us to remain competitive with our coverage footprint. It will reduce churn due to clients leaving due to lack of coverage in their area, as well, it will allow us to provide coverage for some of our existing clients that are situated in a coverage fringe area. Q: When we will have new coverage maps? A: We are working with other parties in the agreements to share and update respective coverage maps. These maps will be made available publicly when we are confident they are accurate and we have the marketing and other programs in place to support the new arrangements. John Hurricane Helmsley jhelmsley@visto.com
Ryan Goolevitch - ryang@trideja.com
Last Modified
October 18, 2001