Wind Mobile to launch service in Ottawa

Wind Mobile is launching service in Ottawa on Friday, the fourth cityin the upstart wireless company's plan for near-national coverage.

The company's Ottawa launch is kicking off with two service kiosks in Blockbuster Video stores. Wind is looking at adding more locations in Blockbuster, Futureshop and Best Buy stores over the next several weeks, a spokesperson said.

She would not disclose coverage details but said the map for Ottawa would be made public on Friday.

Wind launched service in Toronto and Calgary in December and in Edmonton last month. The company's blog said a Vancouver launch is "getting closer every day."

The mobile carrier's startup has been a rocky one, starting with a rejection by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The regulator last year ruled that Wind could not start up because its main financial backer, Egypt's Orascom, had too much influence over the company, so it therefore did not qualify under Canadian ownership rules.

The federal government stepped in and overruled the CRTC, clearing the way for Wind to begin operations. The launch has been shaky, though, with customers complaining of poor network coverage in Toronto and Calgary. Wind also saw the departure recently of its chief customer officer, Chris Robbins, over marketing disagreements.

Wind chairman Anthony Lacavera has acknowledged the coverage issues and saidthat fixing them is the company's priority.

Uncertainty also surrounds Wind's retail partner Blockbuster, which is teetering on bankruptcy. Including the planned Ottawa kiosks, Wind has 24 outlets in Blockbuster stores. Lacavera said he hopes the video chain pulls through its problems, but Wind is prepared in any case.

"We're not concerned with the issue, we've got a lot of distribution methods in front of us and we're assessing them,"he said. "We would have time to find alternate scenarios. We are able to pack up and move our kit if we need to."

Industry analysts have variously said that Wind launched prematurely,or that its teething pains are to be expected. The company is aiming to build a national wireless network with the exception of Quebec where it does not own spectrum licenses to compete with Bell, Rogers and Telus.

Other new wireless companies also recently announced launch plans. Public Mobile began selling service last week, with an official network launch in Ontario and Quebec scheduled for May. Mobilicity, formerly known as DAVE Wireless, also plans to start up in the spring.