Canada’s fourth largest cellular operator by subscribers Wind Mobile has added a third domestic network roaming partner, Telus, to add to its existing partners Rogers and Bell, raising its combined on-net and roaming coverage footprint to 97% of the population, reports MobileSyrup. The company indicated that its roaming (‘WIND Away’) network coverage has expanded by 14% across the country and 40% in Telus’ home province of British Columbia via the deal. Earlier this year Canada’s telecoms regulator the CRTC banned exclusivity clauses in domestic mobile roaming agreements – and specifically chastised Rogers for discriminatory practices regarding smaller market players – whilst the federal government pushed through a bill preventing Canadian carriers from charging their peers more for wholesale mobile roaming services than they charge their own customers for mobile voice, data and text services. This regulation/legislation prompted Wind to add Bell as a second roaming partner while renegotiating its call, messaging and data roaming rates; MobileSyrup adds that Wind’s data roaming rates dropped to the same level Rogers charges its pre-paid customers.
Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.