A man enters Freedom Mobile store in Toronto on Thursday, November 24, 2016. Freedom Mobile is adding 5G capability for some customers on cell plans that cost $45 per month or more, as its new parent company implements network upgrades in accordance with orders from Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
TORONTO – Freedom Mobile is adding 5G capability for some customers as its new parent company implements network upgrades in accordance with orders from Ottawa.
The telecom provider says it will begin offering 5G service to customers with plans that cost $45 per month or more in the Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton areas along with select cities across Ontario, B.C. and Alberta, with planned rollouts in other markets.
In May, Freedom Mobile announced it would offer a $50 monthly plan, its first with national coverage, that includes unlimited calls and texts as well as 40 gigabytes of data usable throughout Canada and the U.S. following its purchase by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron.
The $2.85 billion acquisition was prompted by Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of Shaw Communications Inc., which agreed last year to sell Freedom Mobile in an attempt to ease competition concerns as a requirement for the merger.
As part of conditions laid out by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne in March, Videotron must offer plans that are at least 20 per cent lower than those of its competitors and spend $150 million over two years to upgrade Freedom Mobile’s network.
Freedom Mobile says other technical enhancements have been made across its network, including the introduction of seamless roaming, and that it will also upgrade the monthly plans of existing customers to include nationwide data that can be used anywhere in Canada, free of charge.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:QBR.B, TSX:RCI.B)
