TORONTO – Globalive Wireless today officially launched its new mobile brand in Canada, Wind, by saying it will hire 300 people immediately and up to 2,000 more over the next year.
The company also says it will still launch before the end of 2009. It will operate an all-IP HSPA network, which will pave the way to an LTE network in the future, too.
“Today, we get one step closer to offering Canadians more choice, innovation and affordability when it comes to their wireless provider by bringing an already-recognized global wireless brand to Canada,” said Anthony Lacavera, chairman of Globalive Holdings, in a press release.
Globalive’s primary investor, Weather Investments SpA (which is controlled by Orascom Telecom CEO Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire) owns the Wind brand. It operates it in Italy and Greece and has about 22 million subscribers in both countries. Orascom acquired the brand when it purchased the Italian company in 2005 for 12 billion Euros.
“Wind is an established and growing brand with a successful history of over 10 years in two large European markets, and Canadians will benefit from the economies of scale of this relationship,” added Lacavera’s statement.
“By choosing the same brand name, we are able to not only leverage Wind’s challenger status, but also its operational intelligence and experience.”
Wind will also take into account feedback from www.wirelesssoapbox.com, a Globalive portal where Canadians can complain about their current provider and drop ideas off to the new company.
“This direct challenge to conventional mobile service models aligns the company to the challenger status of the Wind brand and recognizes and celebrates the power that customers have, representing the positive change in mobile,” adds the press release.
“This is an exciting day for wireless in Canada and a historic moment for our company,” added Ken Campbell, CEO of Globalive Wireless. “Wind is founded on the power of conversation and we believe that through a healthy dialogue with our customers, we can create a wireless service that will surpass our competitors’ current offerings. It’s time to raise the bar for wireless service in this country and make Canada’s wireless services comparable to the likes of Europe and the United States.”
The press release also promises the new company/brand will be built on four values: dialogue, simplicity, control and value, meaning it plans to talk to customers more than the incumbents, offer simple bills, more customer control of their subscription and to eliminate extra charges like system access fees.
The company has also launched the first stage of its online community, www.windmobile.ca, which serves as an introduction to the brand and an online forum for discussion, including a blog, a forum, Twitter feed and Facebook page.
