Canadian cable and telecom company Shaw Communications will launch LTE services in late 2011 as part of its new quadruple-play (Internet, TV, mobile and fixedline) offering. Shaw is one of five new mobile entrants in Canada, having spent CAD189.5 million in a government auction of wireless spectrum in 2008. Shaw recently announced it will spend approximately CAD100 million this financial year on building the LTE network. Shaw is now aggressively recruiting in the wireless space. “Next generation wireless encompasses much more than just cell-phones,” said Peter Bissonnette, president, Shaw Communications, in a statement. “We’re approaching wireless in an innovative, leading-edge way that will allow for a variety of exciting new mobile opportunities in and out-of-home for our customers.”

Shaw will join newcomers Wind, Mobilicity, Public Mobile and Videotron in attempting to win market share from incumbent operators Bell, Telus and Rogers. Meanwhile Mobilicity has outsourced network management of its own new mobile offering to Ericsson. The deal is Ericsson’s first managed network operations contract in Canada and its second major contract in North America (following last year’s high-profile win at Sprint Nextel). Financial details of the five-year Mobilicity deal were not disclosed. “By getting Ericsson to manage its 3G network, the company is freeing itself up to focus even more on creating value for its users,” noted the Swedish vendor. “This means offering simple, flexible and affordable 3G voice and data services to the 16 million Canadians that its network will cover when fully launched.” Ericsson also built Mobilicity’s HSPA network. Mobilicity will launch in Toronto this spring, followed by Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.