Mobilicity

History

Originally formed as DAVE Wireless by Canadian businessman John Bitove, the company entered the 2008 spectrum auction for AWS frequencies. DAVE spent $243 million on 10 Mhz of AWS spectrum blocks largely covering southern and eastern Ontario, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>.

Mobilicity began offering service to the public on 15 May 2010. At the time of launch only the Toronto area was covered. On November 17th, 2010, service was launched in Edmonton and Vancouver,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and on November 18th, 2010, Mobilicity launched their service in the Ottawa and Gatineau area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Calgary's service will launch on 28th April 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are no plans to launch in Montreal because Mobilicity does not have spectrum in Quebec.<ref>[1] Wireless Canada 2010</ref>

The company became embroiled in a public fight with Rogers when Rogers announced it was launching a new fighter brand called "Chatr" to offer service to the low-end customer base. Rogers' move has already sparked responses from Bell and Telus, the two other major Canadian carriers, who have also announced plans to introduce similar services.<ref>"Bell to relaunch Solo brand to fight Chatr", Canadian Press, 6 February 2010</ref> Mobilicity contends that the plan is aimed directly at their service, which is based on the same cell towers.<ref>Jamie Sturgeon, "Mobilicity warns Rogers over 'chatr' brand launch", Financial Post, 23 July 2010</ref>