I posted what was a rumor that later was confirmed as fact last night. Now it’s official. Rogers has purchased Mobilicity. Here’s the details from a press release that is on the wires at the moment:
Rogers Communications will immediately boost speed and quality for wireless customers in BC, Alberta and Southern Ontario as part of a series of transactions announced today. The transactions mean Rogers is completing the previously announced acquisition of Shaw’s AWS-1 spectrum and acquiring 100% ownership of Mobilicity. The company is also divesting, post transaction, certain AWS-1 spectrum to WIND Mobile that is contiguous to their spectrum holdings.
Rogers as a result of this deal gains a lot of previously unused spectrum capacity that works with all LTE devices. That’s a win for them. What’s also a win for them is the fact that Industry Canada has signed off on the deal. That’s major as Telus couldn’t get that far when they made two attempts to buy them. The deal still needs to be signed off by the Competition Bureau and the Court that is overseeing Mobilicity’s bankruptcy. But one has to think that this is a formality at this point. Wind is a bit of a winner too as they get some spectrum that I am sure that they can use.
The only thing that is outstanding is if Telus is going to try and stop this via the courts. I’d watch this space to see if that happens. If it is going to happen, it will happen quickly one suspects.
UPDATE: A statement from Industry Minister James Moore has been posted. In it he says this among other things:
“The approval of these spectrum licence transfers is a win for Canadian consumers. A new wireless competitor has secured valuable spectrum it needs, and high-quality spectrum that went unused for almost a decade will now be deployed for the betterment of all Canadians.
That new wireless carrier is Wind who put out a press release to speak to what the Industry Minister said:
“This new spectrum acquisition means WIND Mobile now has a 20 megahertz AWS-1 corridor from Victoria to Ottawa,” said WIND Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic. “This will significantly improve our network performance from Ontario to the Pacific, enabling us to deploy new technology and accelerate the development of our LTE network and other services.”
Krstajic says today’s developments further enhance WIND Mobile’s position as Canada’s fourth national wireless service provider.
Things just MIGHT have become a lot more interesting in the wireless space here in Canada.
Samsung Disables Windows Updates For Your Own Good….. WTF?
Posted in Commentary with tags Samsung on June 24, 2015 by itnerdSamsung has really done something truly dumb. Neowin is reporting that they have installed an application on their computers that disables Windows Updates. Here’s the details:
If we were to tell you that your machine downloaded a file called “Disable_Windowsupdate.exe” you’d probably think we were talking about malware or viruses. But the file in question actually comes from Samsung and is designed to “help your windows configuration settings”.
Yes, that’s right; Samsung, through its own bloatware,
infects your deviceinstalls a program whose sole purpose is to disable Windows Update. This was discovered by a researcher and Microsoft MVP, when taking a look at SWUpdate, Samsung’s bloatware that comes with all their PCs.So, why would Samsung do this? Here’s what the company said:
When you enable Windows updates, it will install the Default Drivers for all the hardware no laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates.
Here’s the problem with this as described by the guy who found this nasty little application:
Why would you ever disable WU in such a fashion (or in general), in a way a generic user cannot control, leaving them vulnerable?
WU is Windows Update and disabling it leaves you unable to get security updates and the like that makes sure that you don’t get pwned by someone because you’re simply connected to the Internet.
My thoughts are that this combined with this other Samsung fiasco and the fact that their smart TVs actively listen to you makes me want to avoid all of their products. Why? Any company who would do stuff like this is one that doesn’t deserve to get my money. Ever.
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