There are no free rides for mobile carriers on the Canada Line, so if Wind Mobile wants access to it, it should negotiate with Telus (TSX:T), which owns the system's wireless infrastructure, say the City of Vancouver and InTransitBC.
Globalive Wirlesss Management Corp., which owns Wind Mobile, is asking the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to order InTransit BC to give Wind access to the Canada Line so that it can build its own wireless infrastructure in the tunnels.
When the rapid transit system was built, Telus was contracted to provide the system's wireless network so that riders could still use their phones and devices while riding the Canada Line.
Telus spent $2 million to put in the infrastructure, and other carriers, such as Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX: RCI.) and BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE), have paid Telus for access.
Wind claims Telus wants to charge too much, so it wants access to the Canada Line so it can install its own wireless infrastructure.
"Unfortunately, the Telus proposal was considerably more expensive than Wind's own estimated costs to build an entirely new system," Wind says in its petition to the CRTC.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall would not disclose how much Telus wants Wind to pay for the right to use its Canada Line wireless network.
"We are offering the same terms that the other carriers agreed to," he told Business in Vancouver. "They don't want to pay their fair share."
In a response to Wind's application to the CRTC, the City of Vancouver and InTransitBC have asked the CRTC to dismiss Wind's application.
"Other wireless carriers have successfully negotiated access by negotiating in good faith with [Telus] and the commission should direct Wind Mobile to likewise resume negotiations," InTransit writes.
InTransitBC says Wind is underestimating the technical challenges of installing its own wireless in the Canada Line tunnel. The company would be limited to working in the tunnel for a couple of hours a night when the trains are not operating, and its construction workers would need to be escorted by Canada Line workers "at chargeable rates."
