network operator founded december 16 2009 2009 12 16 in toronto ontario canada headquarters toronto ontario canada key people alek krstajic president 1 products feature phones mobile broadband modems smartphones android blackberry os blackberry 10 windows phone services hspa including hspa ip relay mobile broadband sms tdd operator telephony number of employees 1 200 2016 2 parent shaw communications website windmobile.ca wind mobile corporately styled as wind mobile is a canadian wireless telecommunications provider owned by shaw communications . with 1 003 469 active subscribers as of the end of may 2016 in urban areas of ontario british columbia and alberta it is canada s fourth largest mobile operator . 3 founded in 2008 by the communications company globalive wind was one of several new mobile carriers launched in canada in 2008 after a government initiative to encourage competition in the wireless sector alongside mobilicity later acquired by rogers communications and public mobile later acquired by telus . wind initially launched mobile data and voice services in the greater toronto and hamilton area ontario on december 16 2009 and two days later in calgary alberta . 4 since then southern ontario has been the main target of network expansion first with ottawa in q1 2011 and then with about half a dozen additional regions the most recent being brantford on july 3 2014 . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 2008 spectrum bid crtc overview and launch delays 1.2 2009 network tests government approval retail partnership and launch 1.3 2010 robbins resigns creation of urban networks 100k subscribers and windtab 1.4 2011 ceo campbell resigns court proceedings vimpelcom ontario expansion and windtab 1.5 2012 further ontario expansion 1.6 2013 lacavera steps down 1.7 2014 recapitalization investors buy out vimpelcom wind telecom stake 1.8 2015 attempted merger with mobilicity spectrum acquisitions and transfers 1.9 2016 acquisition by shaw network upgrades 2 network 2.1 coverage 2.2 phone support 2.3 sim cards 3 services 3.1 voice 3.2 mobile internet 3.3 subsidies 3.4 roaming 4 foreign ownership controversy 5 philanthropy 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit 2008 spectrum bid crtc overview and launch delays edit globalive a canadian company which also runs yak communications was primarily financed by an egyptian corporation orascom telecom holding managed by wind telecom s.p.a. which owns a number of other wind brand telecommunications companies . globalive bid 442 million cad in 2008 to secure the advanced wireless services aws wireless spectrum 3g at 1 700mhz required for the launch of the network . 6 ken campbell a former vodafone and orascom executive was named as chief executive officer of globalive wireless in 2008 . 7 the launch of the company was delayed due to a public ownership review by the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission crtc . the regulatory body stated that globalive did not meet canadian ownership requirements . 8 the most prominent issue was globalive s reliance on orascom for its debt which stood at 508 million cad . 9 2009 network tests government approval retail partnership and launch edit wind mobile logo 2009 2011 globalive completed its first test call on the network in june 2009 . 10 on december 11 of that year the governor in council acting on the advice of tony clement then minister of industry issued a final decision deeming that globalive does meet ownership requirements allowing globalive to enter the canadian market immediately . 11 on december 14 shortly before the peak of the christmas and holiday season wind announced an alliance with blockbuster llc in canada to offer wind kiosks and prepaid products within blockbuster stores at 16 locations 13 in ontario and 3 in calgary . 12 on december 16 wind mobile launched its service in toronto . 13 a launch event was hosted at its queens quay location in downtown toronto . wind gained close to 5 000 subscribers during the 16 days it offered service in 2009 . 14 2010 robbins resigns creation of urban networks 100k subscribers and windtab edit number of wind mobile subscribers 15 3 date additions total increase 2009 12 31 5 000 5 000 n a 2010 03 31 39 441 44 441 789 % 2010 06 30 49 441 93 882 111 % 2010 09 30 45 799 139 681 49 % 2010 12 31 92 960 232 641 67 % 2011 03 31 39 018 271 659 17 % 2011 06 30 45 341 317 000 17 % 2011 09 30 41 000 358 000 13 % 2011 12 31 45 000 403 000 13 % 2012 03 31 12 364 415 364 3 % 2012 06 30 41 552 456 886 10 % 2012 09 30 53 598 510 484 12 % 2012 12 31 79 954 590 438 16 % 2013 03 31 11 281 601 719 2 % 2013 06 30 18 732 620 451 3 % 2013 09 30 16 376 636 827 2 % 2013 12 31 39 382 676 209 6 % 2014 03 31 25 916 702 125 4 % 2014 06 30 38 875 741 000 5 % 2014 09 31 59 000 800 000 8 % 2015 12 16 140 000 940 000 17.5 % 2016 05 31 63 469 1 003 469 6.7 % chris robbins chief customer officer resigned from wind mobile on march 4 2010 . both robbins and wind mobile said that the departure was due to strategic changes and the former wanting to pursue other business opportunities . analysts assessed the change negatively speculating that an executive departure so early reflected disappointing market penetration . 16 on march 27 2010 wind mobile launched its service in ottawa . a launch event was hosted at the rideau st location . service was also launched in most of greater vancouver area and edmonton alberta throughout the year . wind mobile announced on august 13 that in early july they had reached the 100 000 mark in terms of new wireless subscribers . 17 orascom s third quarter financial report released in november 2010 listed wind s subscriber base as 139 681 . 18 19 2011 ceo campbell resigns court proceedings vimpelcom ontario expansion and windtab edit wind mobile logo 2011 2013 on february 4 2011 the federal court ruled in a suit brought by competitors public mobile and telus that the governor in council s decision regarding wind s canadian ownership requirements was improper . wind was granted a 45 day stay of the decision to file arguments . 20 21 on may 18 the federal court of appeal heard arguments from wind and the federal government as to why the federal court decision should be quashed . the federal court of appeal s decision allowed globalive s appeal and restored the governor in council s order that wind met canadian ownership requirements . 22 on september 19 public mobile entered an application for leave to appeal to the supreme court of canada . 23 on march 17 the shareholders of russian mobile telephone operator vimpelcom voted in support of a 6 billion deal to acquire wind telecom whose assets include orascom telecom a significant shareholder in wind mobile . the transaction would create the world s fifth largest mobile operator by subscribers more than 173 million subscribers . 24 in june ken campbell the founding ceo departed the company . campbell had led the management team since start up leading the build out of the company in its five major markets . 25 he went on to be ceo at a former orascom property tunisiana the leading operator in tunisia and co found the canadian cellphone repair chain mobile klinik . 26 27 wind s network in the region of kitchener and waterloo k w was launched on august 16 28 during the back to school season of 2011 . in conjunction with this launch the company introduced a windtab option for pay after customers and a promotional super smart plan for all customers . both services were available to all wind subscribers in any wind zones . guelph coverage was announced on september 9 29 and two stores opened in guelph by the end of the month . the st. catharines and welland zones were launched on october 15 and one store was opened in each city . 30 the provider added more stores in october for all these regions along with new handsets and special promotions . 31 the carrier launched a new advertising campaign on november 7 adopting the slogan that s the power of wind and reinforcing orange as its official colour . a promotional oh canada plan was also offered in conjunction with the new campaign . service in niagara falls was launched on november 23 . to celebrate the company offered 30 nokia c7 smartphones at its store in the pen centre shopping mall . 32 wind plans to connect the niagara region coverage with that of the greater toronto area . the abbotsford and cambridge cities were added to wind s network between december 4 and 6 . 33 london was added the following week on december 13 . 34 2012 further ontario expansion edit a wind mobile store at yorkdale a wind mobile store at the promenade shopping centre wind mobile refreshed its plan lineup on march 1 2012 ; the clever and brilliant plans were eliminated pay your way permanently included unlimited incoming calls answered when using wind s network while the mid range smart and high end genius plans lost their monikers and had some features changed . only sms messages sent to canadian numbers were included and all mms or non canadian sms became pay per use . the wind 25 plan included 100 mb of mobile internet access while the wind 40 plan feature 5 gb of full speed mobile internet instead of voice mail . 35 wind s network in southern ontario expanded throughout 2012 . kingston peterborough and woodstock were added throughout q3 2012 . 36 although the carrier initially planned to add windsor during that same fiscal quarter 37 the plans were delayed citation needed small business pricing was launched in october 2012 to coincide with small business week . this includes a premium monthly plan and lower windtab pricing on several high end phones purchased with that plan . windsor and peterborough coverage and retail presence went live in november 2012 along with two new wish customer monthly plans . both include global sms and reduced international long distance rates . tdd and ip relay operator services were launched by wind in december 2012 . throughout the year 122 additional retail locations were added and 231 network sites . 38 the operator finished 2012 with 200 000 facebook fans and 35 000 twitter followers . 38 2013 lacavera steps down edit the promotional wish plans were extended for the month of january and the first three days in february 2013 . on january 18 2013 anthony lacavera announced that he would no longer assume the role of ceo and instead become a chairman for the company . at the same time the company announced that it had reached around 600 000 subscribers . 39 vimpelcom ltd. began seeking potential buyers for wind in march 2013 . 40 on april 10 2013 wind mobile announced that it would withdraw from the canadian wireless telecommunications association . competitors mobilicity and public mobile also withdrew from the cwta citing bias to its competitors bell rogers and telus as justification . 41 on june 19 2013 orascom telecom a subsidiary of vimpelcom withdrew its application to take full control of wind mobile which reversed an earlier decision . 42 on june 26 2013 the globe and mail reported that american provider verizon wireless made a 700 million offer to acquire wind mobile 43 though the company later announced it had no interest in entering the canadian wireless market . 44 it was reported on september 4 2013 that wind mobile was