“Canada’s wireless networks are among the fastest and most reliable in the world,” said Telus president and CEO Joe Natale. People are willing to pay for fast wireless network because it provides efficiency to browse fresh news, post on facebook and chat with friends only by using a portable smartphone outside their home networks. The Competition Bureau claims to entice a new fourth wireless carrier to Canada in order to stimulate competition to reduce price. Several months before the news, Canada’s three big wireless carriers hiked the base price for their new smartphone plan by $5[1], which means customers should pay more monthly when they think they are enjoying a ‘sweet’ lower cost for wireless networks even if they are BYOD’ing (Bring Your Own Device)[2]. On top of that, customers’ feedback indicates that they receive worse service after price cutting. We need to think about if the stimulation of competition is necessary for the evolution of Canada’s wireless networks and what the price decrease brings to customers.
In my point of view, there is no need reducing the price if the quality of service decrease at the same time. Lower price can be one of the competitive advantage but wireless carriers should not merely focus on price competition, they should also improve service quality based on the low price. Efficient customers’ feedback mechanism should be established to track comments on the service so as to facilitate service improving constantly.
Works cited:
[1]News, CBC. “Wireless Carriers Hike Prices across Canada.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wireless-carriers-hike-prices-across-canada-1.2575886>.
[2]“New Telus Plans: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” WordsByNowak. N.p., 16 July 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://wordsbynowak.com/2013/07/16/telus-wireless-3/>.