Wind Mobile
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Formerly called
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Wind Mobile (2009–2016) |
|---|---|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Mobile network operator |
| Founded | December 16, 2009 |
| Founder | Anthony Lacavera |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Key people
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Alek Krstajic (President) |
| Products | Feature phones, mobile broadband modems, smartphones (Android, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone) |
| Services | LTE (limited),HSPA (including HSPA+), IP relay, mobile broadband, SMS, TDD operator, telephony |
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Number of employees
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1,250 (2016) |
| Parent | Shaw Communications Inc. |
| Website | freedommobile |
Freedom Mobile is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider owned by Shaw Communications. With 1,052,758 active subscribers (as of the end of December 2016) in urban areas of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, it is Canada's fourth-largest mobile operator.
Founded in 2008 as Wind Mobile by the communications company Globalive, Freedom was one of several new mobile carriers launched in Canada in 2008 after a government initiative to encourage competition in the wireless sector alongside Mobilicity (later acquired by Rogers Communications) and Public Mobile (later acquired by Telus). It initially launched mobile data and voice services in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ontario on December 16, 2009 and two days later in Calgary, Alberta. Since then, Southern Ontario has been the main target of network expansion: first with Ottawa in Q1 2011, and then with about half a dozen additional regions, the most recent being Brantford on July 3, 2014.
Globalive, a Canadian company which also runs "Yak Communications", was primarily financed by an Egyptian corporation, Orascom Telecom Holding, managed by Wind Telecom S.p.A., which owns a number of other "Wind" brand telecommunications companies. Globalive bid $442-million (CAD) in 2008 to secure the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) wireless spectrum (3G at 1,700mhz) required for the launch of the network. Ken Campbell, a former Vodafone and Orascom executive, was named as Chief Executive Officer of Globalive Wireless in 2008. The launch of the company was delayed due to a public ownership review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The regulatory body stated that Globalive did not meet Canadian ownership requirements. The most prominent issue was Globalive's reliance on Orascom for its debt, which stood at $508-million (CAD).
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