On the wireless side of the business, Telus estimates the Canadian wireless revenue growth rate was in the double digits in 2007, as market penetration for the industry increased by an estimated 4.9 percentage points to approximately 61% of the population. Telus' wireless segment achieved 10.5% revenue growth and 10.1% subscriber growth in 2007. The company had 5,567,900 wireless subscribers at the end of 2007 (consisting of 4,440,500 postpaid and 1,127,400 prepaid subscribers).

from Telus earns $1.25 billion in 2007 (http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2316/206/)

5.5 million times $7/month in SAFs = $38.5M per month.

If the average bill is $70/month (I'd guess the actual average to be higher), there's $385MILLION per month in fees. Wow! Did I get into the wrong business?!

How much does it take to start up a cellular company? ;)

YOu didn't have to do the math. "Total wireless revenues for the year were $4.26 billion while Wireless earned revenues of $4.81 billion."

so that makes telus what? 2nd place? i surely thoguht they were third but i guess bell is third now? telus is a whopping second, and rogers wireless is first with over 7 million.. nice

What's the difference between "total wireless revenues were $4.26B while wireline earned revenues of $4.81B"?

I know it's just a measly $500 Million, but what's the difference between "revenues" and "earned".
(BTW, my uneducated guess of $70/month/sub. comes pretty close to the mark. $385M x 12 months = $4.6Billion). :)

But for real, though - how much does it cost to build a cell network? If you can build one for a few billion, maintain for a billion a year or so (?), advertise with another billion a year, within five years, you're pretty much printing money, aren't you?

Probably too simplistic a view, otherwise the T-mobiles of the world would have invaded Canada by now.

We'll get some idea of the cost of starting a wireless network when the spectrum auction occurs later this year. The financial pages will be filled, no doubt, with speculation about the $$$$ needed, in addition to buying spectrum, to launch a new network and operate it at a loss for a few years before, if ever, it becomes profitable.

Foreign firms, like T-Mobile, are prohibited from owing Canadian telecommunications companies.

nuje, error s/b "total wireless revenues were $4.26B while wireline earned revenues of $4.81B"?

How many subscribers does Bell mobility have?