Toronto Star citing anonymous sources says, wireless subscribers at Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp. waiting for an iPhone, won’t have to wait long, as Bell and Telus, Canada’s leading telecom carriers, may begin offering Apple’s popular iPhone 3GS device later this year.
 
Currently, both are working on a C$1-billion joint upgrade of their wireless networks that is several months ahead of schedule and should be completed sometime this fall, allowing them to support a range of GSM-based handsets, including the iPhone.
 
The only iPhone carrier in Canada, Rogers Wireless has seen stronger subscriber additions and profits as a result of having no competition in the market.  Bell and Telus, when they do finally launch the iPhone, over a year after leading rival Rogers Communications Inc., they will have to do a lot of catch-up in terms of smartphone market share.
 
Details are scarce, but industry insiders buzz that both Bell and Telus have negotiated deals with Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, who unlike other handset vendors dictates wireless providers everything, from the way new iPhone subscriber accounts are activated to the device’s $199 price tag (16-gigabyte 3G S model) when purchased with a contract.
 
But, analysts say Bell and Telus, like other carriers have little choice, considering the iPhone’s popularity among consumers.
 
Cellphone, iPod, mobile Web browser rolled into one, Rogers helped put the iPhone for sale in Canada in July 2008, and currently operates the country’s only GSM (Global System for Mobile) network.  As Bell and Telus jointly ‘overlay’ an HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network on their existing CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, which would give them the technical capability to support the device, it will give the two carriers a key foothold in the GSM camp, which saw Rogers Communications Inc. emerge as the winner in the wireless technology wars.