iPhone in Canada to usher in new data rates
updated 03:10 pm EDT, Tue June 17, 2008
iPhone Canada Rate Report
The launch of the iPhone 3G in Canada should also see Rogers introduce new rates that may reflect a greater dependence on mobile data but will also encourage higher rates per user, according to statements made by Rogers Wireless president Nadir Mohamed at the Canadian Telecom Summit. The senior official notes that new plans are coming within the next two weeks that will accommodate more frequent data use by a wider number of devices, which most understand will include the Apple device and the BlackBerry Bold.
While declining to provide details, Mohamed explains that the plans will be "easy to understand" as well as more adaptable and encouraging for users who want mobile data.
"There's a recognition on the part of Rogers that the world has changed," he says.
However, the executive adds that he expects the average revenue per use to go up with the launch of the iPhone 3G. A typical Rogers customer pays approximately $63 per month for a combination of voice, messaging, and data features, but an average iPhone subscriber should boost that figure to approximately $90 per month, Mohamed says. Most of the increase should come from increased data use.
The average doesn't necessarily imply a $90 monthly combined rate for the iPhone's voice and data in the country and may depend heavily on customers with higher-tiered plans as well as any additional services that may be usable with the phone, including SMS message packages.
Whether this update corroborates previous reports of the phone qualifying for Rogers' $7 browsing plan supplied to Electronista is unknown. The company has begun offering unlimted browse-only packages on most of its regular devices but has controversially begun extending this to include smartphones such as the N95 8GB, which critics have said artifically limits the usefulness of the device without a true unlimited plan.
Observers expect, however, that the high profile of the iPhone and its unusual software will pressure Rogers to start offering blanket data packages that cover all applications and either supply unlimited data or else a relatively large amount of bandwidth use per month. The company has been criticized in recent months for charging well above what AT&T does in the US for similar phone service.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2001
Not buying it
Well I was hoping that Rogers would not get the phone, then I figured that I may just get one anyway; now I'm thinking that Rogers is going to be just as bas as I thought.
We'll see, however, I don't think I'll get a Canadian iPhone.