List of Canadian mobile phone companies

This is a list of wireless service providers in Canada.

A wireless service provider is a type of communications service provider that connects devices like mobile phones or tablets to wireless networks. As of Q3 2015, there are over 29 million wireless subscriptions in Canada.

Approximately 90% of Canadian cell phone users subscribe to one of the three largest national telecom companies (Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility) or one of their subsidiary brands. These three carriers own and operate transmission facilities that cover most of the country, though they sometimes share each other's networks in certain geographical regions in order to reduce costs and reach more customers.

The remaining 10% of subscribers are served by smaller, regional providers, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), and resellers.^[1] Regional providers own and operate transmission facilities that cover a limited area and rely on partnerships with national service providers to connect their customers across Canada. In contrast, MVNOs and resellers do not own spectrum or network infrastructure and are required to lease network capacity from other providers at wholesale rates. While MVNOs have their own facilities to package and support their mobile services, resellers rely on the host network provider to package, market, bill, and deliver mobile services.^[2]

All wireless service providers in Canada are regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which has been blamed by some for the concentration of wireless service subscribers to only three large national carriers. Though measures have been taken to encourage more competition, critics suggest that more should be done to address the issue, e.g. by mandating wholesale network access for MVNOs.^[3][4]

Mobile network operators

This is a list of mobile network operators, which includes national and regional service providers. Where applicable, this list will also include any subsidiary "extension" brands associated with a mobile service provider. While primary brands, such as Rogers Wireless or Bell Mobility, account for roughly 82% of wireless revenue, extension brands allow wireless service providers to differentiate service offerings and reach broader market segments.^[5]

This list is ordered from largest to smallest by the number of current subscriptions.

Parent Company	Brands and subsidiaries	% of Canadian population covered	Subscriptions (2016)			Blended ARPU monthly (2014)
			Postpaid	Prepaid	Total
Rogers Communications Canada Inc.	Rogers Wireless, Fido, Chatr	LTE: 95%[6] HSPA+: 97% GSM: 97%[7]	8,360,000	1,612,000	10,143,000	$62.30
Bell Canada[note 1]	Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, MTS Mobility [8]	LTE: 97% HSPA+: 98% [9][note 2]	7,896,919	900,259	8,764,714	$63.09
Telus Communications Inc.[note 3]	Telus Mobility, Koodo Mobile, Public Mobile	LTE: 97% HSPA+: 98% [10][note 2]	7,315,000	1,072,000	8.427.000	$63.74
Shaw Communications	Freedom Mobile	HSPA+: 44%[11]	667,028	376,260	1,043,288	$37.40
Vidéotron General Partnership	Vidéotron Mobile	Québec and Ottawa	N/A		828,900	$69.44
SaskTel	SaskTel Mobility	Saskatchewan	N/A		614,221	$64.39
Eastlink	Eastlink Wireless	Atlantic Canada	N/A
Tbaytel	Tbaytel Mobility	Thunder Bay	N/A
Ice Wireless	Ice Wireless, Sugar Mobile	Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut	N/A
References:[12]

1. Bell subscriber numbers include recently acquired MTS subscribers.
2. Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility have a multiple operator core network agreement to provide a common radio network to the customer (distinct from a roaming arrangement, where the radio networks are separate). Bell builds most of its towers in Eastern Canada, while most of Telus' towers are in Western Canada.
3. Telus numbers include those of recently acquired of Public and may be different from CWTA-reported.

In addition, as of October 22, 2013 the following companies expressed their interest in becoming mobile carriers as part of Canada's 2014 700 MHz spectrum auction by becoming provisional bidders: Feenix Wireless Inc, Catalyst Capital Group, Vecima Networks, Novus Wireless, and a numbered Alberta company controlled by Corridor Communications.^[13]

Market share

Market share of Canadian mobile network operators in Q1 2013
Telus Mobility			28.51%
Bell Mobility			28.40%
Rogers Wireless			21.86%
Fido Solutions			12.28%
SaskTel Mobility			2.25%
Freedom Mobile			2.23%
MTS Mobility			0.83%
Videotron Mobile			0.56%
Bell Aliant			0.53%
Note that Fido Solutions is listed as a separate entity from Rogers Wireless.

Mobile networks

Operator	Technology					Frequency			Ownership	Roaming
	GSM	CDMA	iDEN	HSPA+	LTE	PCS	SMR	AWS
Airtel Wireless	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Airtel Wireless Ltd.	None
Bell Mobility	No	Yes (shut down April 2018)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Bell Canada Enterprises	Telus Mobility / SaskTel
Eastlink	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Eastlink	Rogers Wireless / Bell Mobility
Fleetcom	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Fleetcom Inc.	None
Ice Wireless	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Ice Wireless	Rogers Wireless / Videotron
Keewaytinook Mobile	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Keewaytinook Okimakanak's (KO) Kuhkenah Network	Rogers Wireless
Lynx Mobility	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Lynx Mobility	Bell Mobility / Telus Mobility
Rogers Wireless	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Rogers Communications	TBayTel / ICE Wireless / Bell Mobility / Telus Mobility / SaskTel
SaskTel Mobility	No	Yes (shut down July 5, 2017)[14]	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	SaskTel	Bell Mobility / Telus Mobility / MTS
Sogetel Mobilité	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Sogetel	Bell Mobility
TBayTel Mobility	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Thunder Bay Telephone	Rogers Wireless
Telus Mobility	No	Yes (shut down Jan 31, 2017)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Telus Communications	Bell Mobility / SaskTel
Vidéotron Mobile	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Vidéotron	Rogers Wireless
Freedom Mobile	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Shaw Communications	Rogers Wireless / Telus Mobility / Bell Mobility

Former mobile networks

This list includes legacy network terminations as well as defunct network operators.

Operator	Type	Ownership	Purchased by	Ceased operations	Fate
Bell Mobility	Ev-DO	Bell	N/A	July 1, 2015[15]	Complete CDMA shutdown planned prior to 2017[15]
CityWest		CityWest		December 13, 2013	Wireless services discontinued; mobile customers will be transitioned to Telus[16]
Clearnet	CDMA	Clearnet Communications	Telus Mobility	2000	Network merged with Telus
Dryden Municipal Telephone Service	GSM, CDMA	Dryden Municipal Telephone Service	Wireless sold to Tbaytel, Wireline to Bell Aliant	December 21, 2012	Wireless customers migrated to Tbaytel[17]
Fido	GSM	Microcell	Rogers Communications	November 8, 2004	Network merged with Rogers; Fido operates as MVNO
Kenora Municipal Telephone Service	CDMA	Kenora Municipal Telephone Service	Wireless sold to Bell Aliant	February 2008 & July 19, 2015	Wireless customers sold to Bell Aliant.[18] KMTS wireless subscribers moved to Bell Mobility.[19]
Lynx Mobile	CDMA	Lynx Mobile	N/A	December 31, 2015	CDMA network replaced by GSM Network[20]
Mobilicity	AWS, HSPA+	DAVE Wireless	Rogers Communications	2015	Rogers will transition some Mobilicity retail locations and all its customers to Rogers sub-brand Chatr Mobile. As of August 16, 2016, Rogers will stop activating new Mobilicity lines.[21]
MTS Mobility	HSPA+	Manitoba Telecom Services	Bell Mobility	2016
NorthernTel Mobility		NorthernTel Mobility	Bell Aliant	July 19, 2015	NorthernTel Mobility wireless subscribers moved to Bell Mobility.[22]
Northwestel		Northwestel	Bell Mobility	June 19, 2014	Wireless services discontinued, sold to Bell Mobility.[23]
Public Mobile	CDMA with Ev-DO	Public Mobile	Telus Mobility	August 8, 2014[24]	MVNO on Telus HSPA+ network[24]
Sasktel	Ev-DO	Sasktel	N/A	September 30, 2014[25]	Complete CDMA shutdown planned prior to 2017[25]
Superior Wireless	CDMA	Superior Wireless	TBayTel	August 2006	Merged with TBayTel[26]
TBayTel	CDMA	TBayTel	N/A	December 31, 2014.[27]
Télébec Mobilité		Télébec Mobilité	Bell Aliant	July 19, 2015	Télébec Mobilité wireless subscribers moved to Bell Mobility.[28]
Telus Mobility	Ev-DO	Telus	N/A	March 31, 2014[29]
Telus Mobility (Mike)	iDEN	Telus	N/A	January 29, 2016[30]

Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) and resellers

Operator	Ownership	Network provider
7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless	Ztar Mobile	Rogers
Cansel Connect	Cansel	Rogers (M2M)
DCI Wireless	DCI Telecom	Rogers
Execulink Mobility	Execulink Telecom	Bell
good2go Mobile Canada	Ztar Mobile	Rogers
KORE Wireless	KORE Telematics	Rogers (M2M)
OnStar	OnStar	Bell (M2M)
PC Mobile	Loblaws	Bell (prepaid) / Telus (postpaid)
Petro-Canada Mobility	Ztar Mobile	Rogers

Former subsidiaries

Operator	Ownership	Network provider
Solo Mobile	Solo Mobile	Bell
Mike	Mike	Telus
Clearnet	Clearnet	Telus
Mobilicity	Mobilicity	Rogers

Travel SIM Cards & Specialty Services

Operator	Ownership	Network provider	Notes
AlwaysOnline Wireless	Otono	Various	A global data network for iPad owners on the go. AlwaysOnline Wireless is an on-demand 4G LTE service in over 45 countries with plans by the hour, by the day, or by the megabyte.[31]
Brightroam	iRoam Mobile Solutions	Rogers	International SIM, offers Canadian and American numbers.[32]
Know Roaming	Know Roaming	Various	Global SIM Sticker placed on existing SIM card.[33]
Krew Mobile	Otono	Various	Offers American numbers for roaming in USA. Budget family plan.[31]
ZIP SIM	Otono	T-Mobile USA	Offers American numbers.[34]
Roam Mobility (USA)	Otono	T-Mobile USA	Offers American numbers for roaming in the USA and Mexico.[35][36]
Roam Mobility (Canada)	Otono	Various	Offers Canadian numbers for roaming in Canada. SIM's expire after usage.[37]
PhoneBox	PhoneBox	Rogers (postpaid) / Telus (postpaid)	Offers Canadian numbers. SIM's expire after usage.[38]
FlyMobi	FlyMobi CDMA	Sprint	For inmates

See also

• List of Canadian electric utilities
• List of Canadian telephone companies
• List of mobile network operators of the Americas#Canada
• List of United States wireless communications service providers

References

1. "Communications Monitoring Report 2015" (PDF). CRTC.
2. "Mobile Service Providers".
3. Geist, Michael. "CRTC falls short on true wireless competition".
4. Chin, Brian. "No room for low-cost MVNO smartphone plan providers in Canada".
5. "Percentage of revenues and subscribers derived via primary brands, extension brands, and resellers/rebillers, 2014" (PDF). Communications Monitoring Report. CRTC.
6. "Rogers LTE Coverage (Q3 2015 report)" (PDF).
7. "Rogers GSM/HSPA Coverage (2013 Industry Canada)" (PDF).
8. "BCE announces agreement to acquire Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS)".
9. "Bell Network Coverage".
10. "Telus Network Coverage (Q2 2015 report)" (PDF).
11. "Coverage". Wind Mobile. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
12. "Q2 2016 Subscriber Stats" (PDF). CWTA. Retrieved 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
13. Solomon (2013-10-22). "Provisional bidders for 700 MHz spectrum finalized". IT World Canada News. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
14. "SaskTel to turn down CDMA network in July 2017". July 5, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016. (subscription required (help)).
15. Bell lays out plan to shutter its CDMA network by January 1st, 2017
17. "DMTS Notice to Customers " Dryden Municipal Telephone System". Dryden Municipal Telephone System. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
18. http://www.bce.ca/news-and-media/releases/show/city-of-kenora-unanimously-approves-bell-aliant-offer-to-purchase-kenora-municipal-telephone-system-for-27-million
19. http://kmts.ca/personal/kmts-mobility-service/
20. Lynx Mobility
22. http://support.bell.ca/Mobility/NorthernTel-Mobility-and-Telebec-Migration
23. http://www.bce.ca/news-and-media/releases/show/northwestel-wireless-moves-to-bell-mobility
24. Our new 4G network is ready
25. SaskTel Turning Down EV-DO Data Service
26. http://media.knet.ca/node/2187
27. Tbaytel tells customers to upgrade older cell phones
28. https://www.telebec.com/english/magasinage_ligne/asp/mobilite/transfert_bell.asp/
29. TELUS aims to shut down its CDMA network in 2015
30. Important Service Notice: Mike is retiring
31. https://otono.com/brands
32. http://www.brightroam.com/default.aspx
33. https://www.knowroaming.com/
34. https://www.zipsim.us/
35. https://www.roammobility.com/plans
36. https://www.roammobility.com/mexico-roaming-plans
37. https://roammobility.ca/plans
38. https://gophonebox.com/