With word that Rogers Wireless is about to embark on a multi million dollar adventure across Northern BC, Prince Rupert’s CityWest isn’t ready to run up the white flag of surrender, in fact according to a front page story in the Daily News, they are looking a Rogers arrival as an opportunity to potentially gain a new customer.
In an interesting twist to the arrival of competition, CityWest is hoping to that Rogers will sign a contract to utilize the fibre optic network between Prince Rupert and Terrace, a move which may take some of the sting out anticipated defections by some residents anxious to test out the wide array of toys that Rogers has offered in the rest of Canada.
In fact, the arrival of Rogers will be a welcome development for the thousands of cruise ship passengers and the number of business travelers who frequently arrive in town and suddenly discover that their electronic gizmos are but expensive paper weights in the northwest. Rob Brown of CityWest is taking the approach that the arrival of Rogers will be a good thing for Prince Rupert and perhaps will be relieved that he and his staff will no longer have to field angry phone calls or phone store visits from complaining out of towners, blaming CityWest for the lack of signal for their phones and devices.
The one advantage that CityWest will be able to offer local users that Rogers can’t match will be the bundling of services such as phone, internet and cablevision, which they say they will be able to offer to local residents at significant savings.
The background on the upcoming quest for your cell phones, hearts and wallets was found on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.
CONFIDENT CITYWEST SAYS IT’S READY FOR ROGER’S CHALLENGE
Local telecom firm says competition will bring out the best for customers
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Pages one and three
The arrival of Rogers Wireless communications in the Northwest this November is not all bad news for CityWest, said Rob Brown, CityWest general manager.
“We are hopeful they will sign a contract to utilize our fibre network between Prince Rupert and Terrace to connect their systems. I don’t think we have signed the contract just yet for it but they are eager to do that,” said Brown.
On Friday, Rogers announced it will spend $10 million to expand its Global System for Mobile communications, (GSM) wireless voice and data network, from Prince George to Prince Rupert.
The first phase of the network expansion will bring Rogers Wireless service to Prince Rupert and Terrace in November of this year, with the towns of Smithers, Kitimat and Hazleton set to follow during 2008.
This will bring the telecommunications giant into direct competition with CityWest, a municipally-owned telecommunications and television provider.
Having Rogers as a customer on the CityWest fibre link will help offset some of the retail loss CityWest may suffer.
“It’s good for Prince Rupert and good for the Port of Prince Rupert that Rogers is coming,” said Brown.
“As far as the impact on CityWest, it will, I assume, take away some of our customers. We are just hopeful our plans will be as competitive if not more competitive, certainly bundling all our services make it more economical.”
When business people and tourists arrive in Prince Rupert, it is a common sight to see some shaking their cell phones, trying to figure out why the technology won’t work.
“The news of them coming is definitely good for Prince Rupert. There is a demand for that type of service, the GSM technology that they have, it’s actually kind of nice for us because were being blamed for their phones not working here,” said Brown.
“Rogers is a significant player in the Canadian marketplace and there are a lot of phones out there that in Prince Rupert don’t work.”
In addition, CityWest will be able to compete in the digital text and Blackberry market.
The company announced this summer it would have those services available by this October.
“With our coverage and our packages and our recent announcement as well about having Blackberry service… it will certainly help us compete with them on a level playing field,” said Brown.
CityWest has been working on its new bundling packages for some time and Brown believes the company will offer significant savings to customers using multiple CityWest services.
Despite the company’s large size this is an area where Rogers won’t be able to compete, he said.
“Rogers is a formidable carrier, is very aggressive and has a large pocket book for marketing But in the end I think it will be good. Competition is always good,” said Brown.
“This will be some incentive, if you have all of our package there will be some significant savings.”
In an interesting twist to the arrival of competition, CityWest is hoping to that Rogers will sign a contract to utilize the fibre optic network between Prince Rupert and Terrace, a move which may take some of the sting out anticipated defections by some residents anxious to test out the wide array of toys that Rogers has offered in the rest of Canada.
In fact, the arrival of Rogers will be a welcome development for the thousands of cruise ship passengers and the number of business travelers who frequently arrive in town and suddenly discover that their electronic gizmos are but expensive paper weights in the northwest. Rob Brown of CityWest is taking the approach that the arrival of Rogers will be a good thing for Prince Rupert and perhaps will be relieved that he and his staff will no longer have to field angry phone calls or phone store visits from complaining out of towners, blaming CityWest for the lack of signal for their phones and devices.
The one advantage that CityWest will be able to offer local users that Rogers can’t match will be the bundling of services such as phone, internet and cablevision, which they say they will be able to offer to local residents at significant savings.
The background on the upcoming quest for your cell phones, hearts and wallets was found on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.
CONFIDENT CITYWEST SAYS IT’S READY FOR ROGER’S CHALLENGE
Local telecom firm says competition will bring out the best for customers
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Pages one and three
The arrival of Rogers Wireless communications in the Northwest this November is not all bad news for CityWest, said Rob Brown, CityWest general manager.
“We are hopeful they will sign a contract to utilize our fibre network between Prince Rupert and Terrace to connect their systems. I don’t think we have signed the contract just yet for it but they are eager to do that,” said Brown.
On Friday, Rogers announced it will spend $10 million to expand its Global System for Mobile communications, (GSM) wireless voice and data network, from Prince George to Prince Rupert.
The first phase of the network expansion will bring Rogers Wireless service to Prince Rupert and Terrace in November of this year, with the towns of Smithers, Kitimat and Hazleton set to follow during 2008.
This will bring the telecommunications giant into direct competition with CityWest, a municipally-owned telecommunications and television provider.
Having Rogers as a customer on the CityWest fibre link will help offset some of the retail loss CityWest may suffer.
“It’s good for Prince Rupert and good for the Port of Prince Rupert that Rogers is coming,” said Brown.
“As far as the impact on CityWest, it will, I assume, take away some of our customers. We are just hopeful our plans will be as competitive if not more competitive, certainly bundling all our services make it more economical.”
When business people and tourists arrive in Prince Rupert, it is a common sight to see some shaking their cell phones, trying to figure out why the technology won’t work.
“The news of them coming is definitely good for Prince Rupert. There is a demand for that type of service, the GSM technology that they have, it’s actually kind of nice for us because were being blamed for their phones not working here,” said Brown.
“Rogers is a significant player in the Canadian marketplace and there are a lot of phones out there that in Prince Rupert don’t work.”
In addition, CityWest will be able to compete in the digital text and Blackberry market.
The company announced this summer it would have those services available by this October.
“With our coverage and our packages and our recent announcement as well about having Blackberry service… it will certainly help us compete with them on a level playing field,” said Brown.
CityWest has been working on its new bundling packages for some time and Brown believes the company will offer significant savings to customers using multiple CityWest services.
Despite the company’s large size this is an area where Rogers won’t be able to compete, he said.
“Rogers is a formidable carrier, is very aggressive and has a large pocket book for marketing But in the end I think it will be good. Competition is always good,” said Brown.
“This will be some incentive, if you have all of our package there will be some significant savings.”
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