Number Portabilty in the Canadian Cellular World

Grrrr... this really gets me. I hate the state of wireless competition in Canada. The main form of competition is in the form of deals for first time subscribers - and this is simply because the company can pretty much lock you in once you've become accustomed to your cell number. Recently the companies within the industry said they'll get around to number portability in 2007. 2007!! What the heck! Why so long you ask? Well, you see, these companies claim it's complicated and that it will take that long to get it figured out.

Baloney!

It's not anything that most telcos, including the cellular providers in the US haven't done. The code exists on the switches these guys have got, heck it's been around for years. The industry claims that it took the American companies 11 years or something, so that really they're doing this is fast as they can. The main problem here is that their OSS/BSS (Operational Support Systems/Business Support Systems) aren't prepared for this - hmmm... wonder why they'd not want to prepare them for fair competition? This is their fault and their thing to worry about - not the CRTC's nor the general public's. I say that they're just trying to wrap up another two years of beefy revenues before they actually have to start competing with each other and see a drop in their ARPU (Average Revenue per User).