Tag: Freedom Mobile

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Rogers is meeting with prospective Freedom Mobile buyers, but Québecor isn’t on the table

Discussions to sell Freedom Mobile have begun, the Globe and Mail reports.

It’s a vital aspect to complete the merger of Rogers and Shaw. Discussions on the merger began a year ago, but the fate of Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile didn’t become clear until recently.

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne said earlier this month he won’t allow Shaw to transfer its wireless licenses to Rogers because it won’t help the government’s attempts to create new competition.

“The wholesale transfer of Shaw’s wireless licences to Rogers is fundamentally incompatible with our government’s policies for spectrum and mobile service competition, and I will simply not permit it,” he said in a statement.

Rogers needs to sell Freedom Mobile for the deal to close. According to the Globe and Mail, Rogers will have to convince the government the company’s new owner can compete with the country’s three largest carriers.

The Globe and Mail reports Rogers had initiated conversations with prospective buyers. While the publication has not released the names of these companies, it made clear Québecor is not one of the players. The company’s subsidiary, Vidéotron, expressed interest in acquiring Freedom Mobile.

Québecor released several statements since it became clear Shaw will have to sell Freedom Mobile. “We are pleased to see that the Committee’s members agree that we need real competition in wireless and that a strong independent fourth player would benefit Canadians,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, Québecor’s president and CEO,  said shortly after Minister Champagne made his comments. 

Source: Globe and Mail

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Telecom company executives comment on Freedom Mobile’s potential sell-off

The chief financial officer of BCE says Freedom Mobile will have a hard time competing against other telecom companies if Shaw puts it up for sale.

According to the Globe and Mail, Glen LeBlanc believes there’s a “high probability” Rogers will sell Freedom Mobile to gain approval for its merger with Shaw. He made the comments at Scotiabank’s telecom, media and technology conference.

The statement comes on the heels of Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s comments saying Rogers can’t require all of Shaw’s wireless licenses as doing so will decrease competition.

Numerous parties are interested in acquiring Freedom Mobile, including company founder Anthony Lacavera and telecom giant Québecor Inc.

Québecor released several statements since Minister Champagne made his comments, praising the government for wanting to create competition.

But as The Globe reports, LeBlanc believes Québecor purchasing the company could create distractions.

“It’s going to take their attention away from their core market in Quebec,” he said.

Minister Champagne’s comments came just before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology released a report outlining suggestions on the merger.

One of those was to launch consultations examining separating businesses that build infrastructure networks, and those that sell retail services, as doing so could increase competition.

Peter Nowak, vice-president of insight and engagement at TekSavvy, says the matter should’ve been discussed long ago.

“In the context of structural separation, one approach the government could take with the merger is to allow it, but only if Rogers and Shaw agree to split off their network operations into an entirely separate entity,” Nowak wrote in a blog post on the company’s website.

“This could set the table for a new and more competitive telecommunications marketplace in Canada, with other big companies following suit either voluntarily or through government requirements.”

Source: The Globe and Mail

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Freedom Mobile drops $80/mo 40GB plan from roster

Shaw-owned regional carrier Freedom Mobile has removed its $80/mo 40GB plan.

Freedom changed up its plans slightly just a few days ago, adding a new $55/mo 18GB plan and bumping its Canada/U.S. plan from $85/mo with 30GB to $90/mo with 50GB of data. However, at the time, the carrier still offered that $80/40GB plan.

It’s definitely a bummer to see the plan go considering that not everyone needs (or wants) Canada/U.S. calling. The $80 plan fit nicely at the top of Freedom’s plan stack and offered a great option with lots of data but for slightly less than the Canada/U.S. plan.

It’s unclear if Freedom will bring back the plan, or offer a similar new plan, sometime in the future.

As a refresher, Freedom’s plans offer two buckets of data — Freedom data customers can use when on Freedom’s network and ‘nationwide’ data when they’re off of Freedom’s network. The data amounts mentioned above are for Freedom data — the $80/40GB plan also had 2GB of nationwide data.

If you’re looking to get that amount of nationwide data, you’ll need to pick either Freedom’s $75/30GB plan (also has 2GB of nationwide data) or the $90/mo Canada/U.S. plan (has 4GB nationwide data). Freedom’s other plans have 1GB of nationwide data.

You can check out Freedom’s plans here.

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Freedom’s $60/25GB plan offer now ends January 24th

Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile has changed up some of its ‘Big Gig’ plans.

The changes aren’t too crazy, but they’re changes nonetheless. First up, Freedom’s $50/mo 20GB plan has dropped 5GB of data. It’s now a $50/mo 15GB plan. The 20GB variant was listed as a promotional plan, so this isn’t a huge surprise. Oddly, the new 15GB version is still listed as a promo plan.

The other major change to Freedom’s plan lineup involves the $60/mo 25GB plan. It’s now listed as a ‘Limited Time’ offer that ends on January 24th. In other words, you have until Monday to grab that plan if you’re interested in it.

Beyond those two changes, Freedom doesn’t appear to have adjusted its other Big Gig plans, which are as follows:

  • $75/mo 30GB Freedom data / 2GB Freedom Nationwide data
  • $80/mo 40GB Freedom data / 2GB Freedom Nationwide data
  • $85/mo 30GB Freedom data / 3GB Freedom Nationwide data with Canada-U.S. calling, texting and data
  • $115/mo 50GB Freedom data / 5GB Freedom Nationwide data with Canada-U.S. calling, texting and data

It’s worth noting that the ‘Freedom Nationwide’ data is the amount of data you have access to when you’re not on Freedom’s network. Moreover, the prices listed above include a $5/mo discount for signing up with Freedom’s Auto Pay system. On top of that, customers who get one of these plans and bring their own phone can save an extra $5/mo for up to 24 months.

You can check out Freedom’s plans here.

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Wind Mobile founder Anthony Lacavera wants to buy Freedom Mobile

Wind Mobile founder Anthony Lacavera wants to buy it back, now that the wireless carrier may be up for sale again.

Lacavera founded Wind in 2008 and sold it to Shaw Communications in 2016 for $1.6 billion. Since then, Wind was renamed Freedom Mobile. Now as Rogers works to acquire Shaw for $26 billion, some expect regulators will force it to sell Freedom to avoid a reduction in wireless competition as part of the deal.

A lengthy report from the Globe and Mail details Lacavera’s plan to buy Freedom should the Rogers-Shaw deal come to pass, which involves leveraging a group of investors including pension funds, private equity and family offices. Lacavera declined to share the names of investors with the Globe, although he did admit to sticking with investors from Canada, the U.S. and Britain to avoid controversy. (Wind’s launch was delayed due to issues raised by the CRTC over its ownership).

“I think that would be good for the Canadian market if [Freedom] was restored to being an independent, pure play wireless company,” Lacavera told the Globe. Lacavera previously expressed disappointment over the proposed Rogers-Shaw deal, saying that “prices most definitely are going to go up.”

Should Freedom go up for sale and Lacavera succeed in his bid to acquire the carrier, he plans to make 5G accessible to all Canadians with innovative pricing. Additionally, Lacavera believes Canadian wireless rates should be 20 to 30 percent lower. Dynamic pricing could be one way Lacavera will do that — he explained that networks can be dynamic now and that it can switch customers between 5G and 4G depending on their needs. As such, pricing could change dynamically depending on what customers are doing on their phones.

Others are interested in buying Freedom Mobile

However, Lacavera isn’t the only one interested in scooping up Freedom if it goes up for sale. Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau previously expressed interest in buying Freedom as part of its plan to expand Vidéotron into Western Canada.

The Globe notes that Eastlink founder John Bragg also expressed interest in purchasing Freedom, but that the company’s not holding its breath.

However, none of this matters if Freedom doesn’t go up for sale — so far, it’s not clear if it will. Even if selling Freedom becomes part of the Rogers-Shaw deal, it’s unclear how much of the carrier will need to be sold. Rogers may be forced to part with only a certain amount of customers contracts, spectrum licences, physical stores and towers to appease regulators.

Plus, Freedom could find itself behind others on 5G since Shaw opted out of the recent 3,500MHz spectrum auction due to the Rogers acquisition. The 3,500MHz spectrum will be key in rolling out actual 5G since the mid-band spectrum offers several benefits over the low-band 5G currently deployed in Canada.

The CRTC, Competition Bureau and Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development are still reviewing the Rogers-Shaw deal.

Source: Globe and Mail

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Mobile Syrup

Freedom Mobile’s Boxing Day promotion discounts the latest Pixel 6 Pro and iPhone 13

Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile’s Boxing Day deals are live now with solid discounts on Smartphones, Watches, tablets and data plans.

Below you’ll find some notable phone deals, plus a list of Boxing Day plans on offer.

Apple

Samsung

Google

  • Pixel 6 128GB: $0 down, $20/mo financing with TradeUp — You save $408 over 24 months
  • Pixel 6 Pro 128GB: $0 down, $35/mo financing with TradeUp — You save $480 over 24 months

Motorola

Find all smartphone deals available at Freedom Mobile here.

Plans

Big Gig Unlimited

  • $50/mo 20GB with unlimited Talk, Text and 1GB Nationwide data
  • $60/mo 20GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 1GB Nationwide Data
  • $75/mo 25GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Nationwide Data
  • $80/mo 30GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Nationwide Data
  • $85/mo 40GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Nationwide Data

Big Gig Unlimited Canada/US

  • $85/mo 30GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 3GB Nationwide + U.S. Data
  • $115/mo 50GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 5GB Nationwide + U.S. Data

You can check out all of Freedom Mobile’s plans here.

Follow the links to check out Boxing Day deals from Shaw, Public Mobile, Virgin Plus, Chatr, Bell, Telus, Rogers, Koodo and Fido.

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Koodo, Virgin Plus, Fido and Freedom Mobile offer 15GB-20GB plans at discounted rate at Walmart

Walmart is offering a pretty fantastic bring your own phone plan for Koodo, Virgin Plus, Fido and Freedom Mobile.

Walmart has a promotion that’ll get you $10 off for the first 15 months and new activations or upgrades on plans $55+. This means you’ll get $45 for 15GB with Koodo, Virgin Plus and Fido, and then $40 for 20GB for 15 months. This plan is not available for Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

According to RedFlagDeals user ‘NavieM’, this deal is for new activations or upgrades on plans higher than $55 or higher.

What’s included (Koodo/Virgin/Fido):

  • Unlimited Canada-wide talk
  • Unlimited international text messages
  • 15GB data
  • Caller ID
  • Voicemail
  • 1000 international minutes to select countries
    $50 connection fee credit ** New activations only **Bring your own phone only

What’s included (Freedom):

  • Unlimited Canada-wide talk
  • Unlimited international text messages
  • 20 GB Data (Fast LTE) 1GB Nationwide Data
  • Caller ID
  • Voicemail
  • $45 connection fee credit ** New activations only **Bring your own phone only
  • $50 Walmart giftcard on plans $30+
    Freedom plan is $55/month for 20GB – $5 off for automatic payments – $10 off for 15 months

Source: RedFlagDeals (NavieM), Via: iPhoneinCanada

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Freedom promo plan offers 1.5GB of data for $19

Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile is offering a 1.5GB promotional plan with unlimited talk and text for $19 per month.

Shared by RedFlagDeals user ‘TH3R,’ the plan regularly costs $29/month, but the promotion includes two $5 digital discounts, taking the plan’s price down to $19/month.

If you activate a new line with Freedom, you get a $5 discount per month, and customers who sign up for Freedom’s Auto Pay pre-authorized payments system can get an additional $5 off per month, effectively taking the $29 plan’s price down to $19 per month.

Similarly, Freedom has a second prepaid plan with 3GB of data and unlimited talk and text for $29 per month. The plan regularly costs $39 but is available for $29 per month with the digital discounts.

It’s worth noting that a one-time $10 activation fee will be applied to your balance. Learn more about the prepaid plans here.

Image credit: Freedom Mobile

Source: RedFlagDeals

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Mobile Syrup

Freedom promo plan offers 1.5GB of data for $19

Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile is offering a 1.5GB promotional plan with unlimited talk and text for $19 per month.

Shared by RedFlagDeals user ‘TH3R,’ the plan regularly costs $29/month, but the promotion includes two $5 digital discounts, taking the plan’s price down to $19/month.

If you activate a new line with Freedom, you get a $5 discount per month, and customers who sign up for Freedom’s Auto Pay pre-authorized payments system can get an additional $5 off per month, effectively taking the $29 plan’s price down to $19 per month.

Similarly, Freedom has a second prepaid plan with 3GB of data and unlimited talk and text for $29 per month. The plan regularly costs $39 but is available for $29 per month with the digital discounts.

It’s worth noting that a one-time $10 activation fee will be applied to your balance. Learn more about the prepaid plans here.

Image credit: Freedom Mobile

Source: RedFlagDeals

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Freedom Mobile raises connection fee to $45

Freedom Mobile is increasing the fee it charges when customers activate a new phone line.

Starting today, October 18th, the carrier’s Connection Fee — a one-time charge applied to each new line activation — jumps from $35 to $45.

That adds up to a $10 — and nearly 29 percent — jump in price.

According to a report from iPhone in Canada, Freedom Mobile claims the fee hike will fund service and network improvements.

Freedom Mobile first began charging customers connection fees (also known as activation fees) in December 2019.

Initially, the carrier charged $20 on the first bill for new postpaid activations, and $10 for prepaid activations — less than half of what’s being charged now, just two years later.

Connection/Activation fees are going up across the board.

In 2020, from September to November, Bell, Fido, Koodo, Rogers, Telus, Virgin ($40→$45), and Freedom ($20→$30) all increased their fees.

Most recently, in July 2021, another wave of hikes kicked off, as Telus, Koodo, Rogers, and Fido all further jacked up their connection fees to $50 (FYI: Fido is owned by Rogers, and Telus owns Koodo).

Source: iPhone in Canada