Rumor (NOT T2 related!!)

ok, so I was hanging out with a few guys Monday night. We were finishing off a motor swap on a van, shooting the breeze, and talking about... pretty much everything. Conversation floated around to cell phones and plans... and then one guy says out of the blue "I heard that Verizon is coming to Canada next year"

I highly doubt this, and even though I'm not one to surf the tech blogs, I have not heard ANYTHING about this... or even a hint of it.

Anyone know anything about this (true/false/possible)???

Have heard nothing of this either.

Unlikely, but I suppose anything is possible.

never going to happen...

I would think that before VZW went to Canada they would form a major partnership with a carrier up there then eventually take it over. However, I don't see VZW stepping out of the U.S.

Canada isn't as big of a market as say a China or Brasil. With that said I highly doubt you would see VZW as VZW in Canada.

Originally Posted by bs1two

I would think that before VZW went to Canada they would form a major partnership with a carrier up there then eventually take it over. However, I don't see VZW stepping out of the U.S.

Canada isn't as big of a market as say a China or Brasil. With that said I highly doubt you would see VZW as VZW in Canada.

Well said. There would be rumblings of a partnership/takeover if it were true. I have not seen anything to this effect.

May be doing a partnership with Telus or Bell, but it would be surprising...

Yeah a partnership is only thing I could ever see happening. VZW has grown leaps and bounds in the Global aspect of wireless by forming partnerships around the world. I don't see VZW investing money in another company due to being so much into LTE at this point. Once LTE is up and running in most areas (around 2012) I could see them venturing out into say Canada/Mexico/Carribean to expand the footprint near the continental US. However, like I mentioned before it's not a major market. I could see VZW in China before I could see them in Canada. I'm not talking partnership on this one. I am talking as the Big Red Machine.

If anything it would be Vodafone, not Verizon. Not sure if there is any more spectrum to go around for another player in Canada anyways.

Thanks for the replies everyone... I had my doubts about it too, but it wouldn't hurt to get another carrier up here to help drive prices down a bit. Only trouble is there is a LOT of country to cover, and not a lot of population (compared to the US, on average) so for a brand-new carrier to start from scratch - towers and everything - would take a HUGE amount of cash. Partnership I think would be the way to go...

*shrugs*

oh well...

VZW used to have a stake in BCTel, which was as high as 40% under GTE pre-merger. VZW completely divested BCTel (now Telus) in 2003, or 2004. Given the lack of overall density of Canada, major regulatory hurdles, I'd say the chances of VZW returning to Canada are zero...maybe even less...;)