Cogeco Launches Mobile Wireless Service in Canada but Keeps Users Guessing on Pricing
The company has signed up an initial cohort of customers on the new mobile service, following a pre-registration period for its existing Canadian wireline subscribers.
(Photo: SBR)
MONTREAL, July 18, 2025 — Waiting in the wings for long, Cogeco Inc. has launched its mobile wireless service in Canada, with plans in the pipeline to make it available in 12 markets in the coming weeks.
Cogeco’s foray into the mobile service segment comes at a time when top telecom operators in Canada showed a dip in the addition of new mobile subscribers during the last two quarters of the fiscal year.
Bloomberg reported that stricter immigration rules have adversely affected the addition of new mobile subscribers for telecom companies in Canada.
Meanwhile, revealing its plans to compete with other cable operators, Cogeco said it is targeting “low-to-mid data users.”
The Montreal-based telecommunications company said the first group of customers is already active.
Cogeco said it has signed up an initial cohort of customers on the new mobile service, following a pre-registration period for its existing Canadian wireline subscribers.
Bundling of Services in Thriving Market
Maintaining the standard practice of other cable operators, Cogeco is bundling mobile with home broadband services.
On the pricing front, the company has remained silent during this soft-launch phase.
“We’re ready to go,” Cogeco President and CEO Frédéric Perron said on the company’s fiscal Q3 earnings call. “We already have an initial cohort of users of the service and will broaden sales in 12 markets over the coming weeks ahead of a full commercial launch this fall.”
As per a company official, pricing will be announced to customers first, but he asserted that Cogeco's mobile offering “will be exclusive to customers also buying wireline with us.”
Cogeco is competing in a market with deep internet penetration, with 35 million internet users in Canada, according to Statista data.
As many as 93 percent of the country’s population are active internet users.
Besides, digital audiences in Canada are projected to grow to around 39 million online users, or over 94 percent of the population, by 2028. In terms of connection category, broadband dominates the Canadian market, pushing mobile connections to second place.
Service Available Across Touchpoints
A Cogeco official was quoted as saying that the operator will sell and market mobile across all its channels, including physical stores, online, through customer care, and via residential service bundles.
Cogeco’s initial 12 markets targeted for mobile include Alma, Magog, Rimouski, Saint-Georges, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Sauveur and Trois-Rivières in Québec; and Brockville, Chatham, Cobourg, Cornwall and Welland in Ontario.
The operator said that it plans to spread its footprint with a “full geographic deployment” in the fall.
Cogeco’s mobile offering is limited to remain regional, but the new service will see the company competing with mobile incumbents such as fellow Canadian cable operator Rogers Communications, which runs its own mobile network, and Bell Canada.
In August, Cogeco announced five-year partnerships with Eastlink and an unidentified national wireless network operator to facilitate its foray into mobile. Cogeco said maintaining the anonymity of the national wireless operator was owing to contractual obligations.
The agreement with Eastlink, a Nova Scotia-based provider of broadband, video, phone, and mobile services, covers the delivery of Cogeco’s wireless tech platform, business support systems, core network, and operations systems.
However, at the time of signing the deal, Cogeco announced its intent to remain independent from its mobile partners and “retain all wireless client relationships, including sales, marketing, and customer service activities.”
To facilitate mobile competition in Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has required Bell, Rogers, Telus, and SaskTel to give regional rivals wholesale access to their respective wireless networks. The CRTC has also given wireless providers the ability to negotiate with each other to get better rates. If they can’t, the CRTC will step in and set the rate.
Revealing its plans to compete with other cable operators, Cogeco said it is targeting low-to-mid data users.
Inputs from Saqib Malik
Editing by David Ryder
