ac grad – AC Demo

October 6, 2016

Clearpath raises $30M to expand indoor self-driving vehicle market

Funding from iNovia Capital, Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures and previous investors will expand AC Grad’s new OTTO Motors division

Clearpath Robotics, a leading provider of self-driving vehicle solutions, announced today the completion of a $30 million (USD) investment led by iNovia Capital with participation from Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.

Clearpath will use the funding to grow the company’s industrial division, OTTO Motors. Clearpath launched OTTO Motors in 2015 to focus on self-driving vehicles for material transport inside manufacturing and warehouse operations.

“Factories operate like small indoor cities, complete with roads, traffic, intersections and pedestrians,” said Matt Rendall, CEO and co-founder of Clearpath. “Unlike city streets, a factory floor is a controlled environment, which makes it an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale. Companies like Google, Tesla and Uber are still testing, whereas our self-driving vehicles are commercially available today.”
Companies including GE and John Deere have deployed OTTO’s material handling equipment in their facilities.

“The market for self-driving passenger vehicles will be over $80 billion by 2030,” Rendall said. “We believe the market for self-driving materials handling vehicles will be equally significant. Clearpath has a big head start, and this new funding will allow us to further accelerate the development of the best self-driving software in the industry – and bring more OTTOs into the world faster.”

“Software-differentiated hardware will disrupt every major sector over the next decade,” said Karam Nijjar, Partner at iNovia Capital. “Self-driving vehicles are already revolutionizing transportation. Clearpath has built a world-class team, technology and customer base to accelerate that vision. Clearpath isn’t just building the factory of the future; they are laying the foundation for entirely new business models enabled by artificial intelligence, autonomy and automation.”

Manufacturers need flexible and efficient automation more than ever due to rapidly changing market demands. The U.S. alone anticipates a shortage of more than two million skilled manufacturing workers over the next decade. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly demanding ethically sourced, domestically made products. OTTO Motors’ self-driving indoor vehicles help fill the labor gap while providing manufacturers an affordable way to keep or return operations onshore. Clearpath is helping create a new industry and category of domestic jobs developing, servicing and working with their self-driving vehicles.

“Clearpath is developing exciting self-driving vehicle technology for industrial environments,” says Michael Young, Director at Caterpillar Ventures. “We look forward to collaborating with Clearpath to drive efficiency gains in Caterpillar facilities.”

Clearpath previously raised $11.2 million (USD) in a January 2015 Series A round led by RRE Ventures with participation from iNovia Capital, GE Ventures and Eclipse Ventures to develop their OTTO product line. Officially launched in 2009, Clearpath’s founders established the company by participating in a U.S. Department of Defense-funded robotics competition to design a robot that could detect and remove land mines. With help from a $300,000 angel investment the following year, the team pivoted from mine removal to providing unmanned vehicle development platforms for the global research community. After launching the first OTTO product in September 2015, Clearpath established its OTTO Motors division to focus on self-driving vehicles for materials handling.

June 2, 2016

AC Grad Intellijoint Surgical wins the Shopify Grit Award

TORONTO (May 31, 2016) – At today’s Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit in Toronto, Futurpreneur Canada and Shopify announced Intellijoint Surgical Inc. as the winner of the Shopify Grit Award. The award celebrates the kind of business success that comes from having “true grit” – creativity, ingenuity and resilience when faced with challenges.

“Futurpreneur has helped launch thousands of businesses and we are honoured to be 1 of 3 recipients of the prestigious 20th Anniversary Awards,” said Armen Bakirtzian, Co-Founder and CEO, Intellijoint Surgical Inc. “Business owners across this country face countless challenges, and we are humbled and extremely proud to represent the hard work and determination it takes to succeed.”

The team at Intellijoint Surgical started out as three graduates from Waterloo University with no medical background or entrepreneurial experience who set out to undertake a major challenge – creating a medical device and putting it on the market. They overcame many obstacles to create a surgical device that is FDA-approved, has a Health Canada medical device license, and has been used successfully over 350 times across North America. In just six years, they’ve gone from one desk at the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo to 10,500 square foot facility and have hired 22 people.

“Starting a business takes dedication, hustle and a desire to succeed. We’re excited to support the next wave of entrepreneurs, especially the incredibly talented team at Intellijoint Surgical,” said Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify.

“Starting a business can be challenging for anyone without entrepreneurial experience, but putting a medical device on the market is a huge test of resilience,” said Scott Bowman, Senior Director, Ontario, Futurpreneur Canada. “The team at Intellijoint Surgical have proven that determination and persistence are one of the greatest contributors to entrepreneurial success.”

The Grit Award was one of five awards that Futurpreneur presented today. Other awards included the Clearwater Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the BDC Mentorship Award, the Youth Business International Beyond Borders Award and the RBC Community Partner Award. These awards are one way the organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary, by recognizing top Futurpreneur-supported entrepreneurs and the people and organizations that support their success.

May 13, 2016

Armen Bakirtzian of Intellijoint looks back on the journey from Startup to Scale-up

For most people, hip replacement isn’t something that crosses your mind until later in life. But for Armen Bakirtzian and co-founders, Andre Hladio and Richard Fanson, developing a solution to help improve the outcomes of these surgeries became a launchpad for starting their company, Intellijoint Surgical Inc.

Together they presented their idea and won the pitch competition at the 2010 Ontario’s Next Top Young Entrepreneur Pitch Competition. That same year they were welcomed to the Accelerator Centre.

Looking back, Armen Bakirtzian, now CEO at Intellijoint, notes that when he and his co-founders first walked into the AC, they were all grinning ear-to-ear. After working in their basements, garages, kitchen tables or any space they could find, having an actual office gave them a tremendous boost in confidence and focus.

“It was an incredible experience. We met great people, got inducted into the ecosystem and took advantage of all the resources. To this day, we all feel that it was one of the best decisions we made.”

He added that as technical co-founders, they came into the program only having the experience of working on a school project. They hadn’t hired anyone or gone through any of the steps of establishing formalized business practices. However, they’ve come a long way since then.

On the day we spoke with Armen, Intellijoint was moving into a larger office. While staying in their current location, they were more than doubling their space. Since graduating from the AC in June, 2014 they’ve gone on to receive nearly $550,000 in FedDev investment.

Their flagship product, intellijoint HIP™, a surgical tool designed to enable orthopaedic surgeons to more effectively meet their surgical objectives and improve patient outcomes, earned them the 2015 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Enabling Technology Leadership.

They’ve made significant inroads in the Canadian and American markets and they recently entered into a strategic partnership that will provide access to the Australian market.

With success, comes responsibility. Rising to the occasion, Intellijoint is dedicated to remaining in Waterloo Region. Armen firmly states, “Our focus to build ourselves here, to draw talent here and give back to the ecosystem — it all ties back to our time at the AC.”

THE RUNDOWN

Family: He is married to Garod Bakirtzian.

Business hero: His father.

Person he’d like to have lunch with: Carey Price

Guilty pleasure: Nutella

The best piece of advice you’ve ever received: If you’re going to fail, fail quickly and move on to something else.

Three things most people don’t know:

He’s from Quebec.
He has a scuba diving license.
He’s a godfather. (The mentoring kind, not the mafia kind.)

May 10, 2016

Matt Stevens of FleetCarma talks lessons in technology and leadership

How AC Grad FleetCarma is charging ahead with electric vehicles

It’s not easy to get in the front door at the FleetCarma, (formerly CrossChasm), offices. Seriously, the front door is really hard to find. But that’s okay, because their primary focus isn’t foot traffic anyhow. And they’re working on some big changes inside.

The Accelerator Centre Graduate, and recent recipient of $430,000 from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s (SDTC) SD Tech Fund™, has just made a major strategic pivot. With the electric vehicle industry at a tipping point, they have decided to focus on developing solutions targeted at overcoming the challenges of buying and operating electric vehicles, especially in fleets.

While it’s a complete change from consulting with manufacturers to design and prototype next-generation electric vehicles, they feel it’s a move in the right direction. Now that more electric vehicles are being made, people need the tools to help make the most of this technology.

In the midst of all these transitions, we caught up with CEO, Matt Stevens to discuss the AC’s 10^th Anniversary and reflect on his time as one of the first 10 companies to participate in the newly created development and commercialization program.

Matt became interested in electric vehicles during his time at the University of Waterloo, where he earned a PhD in engineering. He met his co-founders in the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) when they participated in a smart car challenge developing a hybrid fuel cell for the Chevy Equinox. Even better, they won!

After graduation, mentor John Bell referred Matt and his colleagues to the Accelerator Centre in 2007. Upon entering the program, he recalls that he got a huge lesson in humility. “Going in, I thought that good technology was 90% of the equation. In reality, it was more like 5%.”

To demonstrate this point of the role of technology on its own, he provided this visual.

He also learned that “As the CEO, you’re not the quarterback or the coach, you’re probably the general manager. Your job is to put the right people in the right places and get out of the way.”

According to Matt, one of the most influential aspects of their time at the AC was working with the in-house mentors. They helped him and his company in the areas that needed the most attention, like sales and marketing as well as public relations.

Since graduating in 2011, they have participated in the development of many electric vehicles, including a stealth snowmobile and mining equipment. Due to the length of the development timeline, the world will continue to see vehicles they helped design well into 2020. But, with FleetCarma’s new focus on helping industries adapt their fleets, we will also see more of these vehicles in real-world applications.

THE RUNDOWN

Family: He and his wife, Amanda, have a 17-month-old daughter, Blake and will welcome a second daughter in May.

Business hero: Seth Godin

Person he’d like to have lunch with: His daughter, Blake

Guilty pleasure: Peanut M&Ms

The best piece of advice you’ve ever received: Build a not-to-do list.

Things most people don’t know:

He was one of three kids to help at the groundbreaking of the Canadian Tire Centre.
He still plays hockey.
As a kid he rode dirt bikes and had a special talent for landing in rivers.

April 26, 2016

Clearpath Named 2016 Edison Award Winner

Clearpath wins Silver at New York Ceremony for OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle

(Kitchener, ON, Canada – April 26, 2016) Clearpath, provider of self-driving vehicle technology and services, was named a Silver Winner for their OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle by the prestigious Edison Awards. The award program celebrates 29 years of honoring the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services. The announcement was made at an annual award gala on April 21^st at The Capitale in New York City.

“The OTTO self-driving vehicles leverage new technologies to enable factory operators with a more cost-effective, safe, and efficient method of moving materials in their facilities. We’re thrilled to be named a winner and to see that the Edison Awards recognizes the potential of our OTTO solution,” said Simon Drexler, Director of Industrial Solutions at Clearpath.

The ballot of nominees for the Edison Awards™ was judged by a panel of more than 3,000 leading business executives including past award winners, academics and leaders in the fields of product development, design, engineering, science and medical.

“Our judges recognized the OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle as a true innovation out of the many products in its category,” said Frank Bonafilia, Executive Director of the Edison Awards.

Being recognized with an Edison Award has become one of the highest accolades a company can receive in the name of innovation and business. The awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) whose inventions, new product development methods and innovative achievements literally changed the world, garnered him 1,093 U.S. patents, and made him a household name around the world.

April 21, 2016

Clearpath To Provide GE Healthcare Repair Center With Self-Driving Vehicles

A fleet of OTTO self-driving vehicles will automate just-in-time parts delivery within Milwaukee facility

(Kitchener, ON, Canada – April 21, 2016) Clearpath, the developer of OTTO – a self-driving vehicle designed exclusively for material transport – has been selected to automate just-in-time parts delivery in a GE Healthcare repair facility being expanded near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“The OTTO fleet will optimize GE Healthcare’s just-in-time manufacturing process to help enable repair cells operate at full capacity,” said Matt Rendall, chief executive officer at Clearpath Robotics.

This GE Healthcare facility is a Repair Operations Center (ROC) that repairs medical equipment, tests functionality, recycles retired equipment, manages warranty service programs, and ships qualified high quality parts to field services to maintain a high level of customer fulfillment at locations in the United States and around the world. The fleet of OTTO self-driving vehicles will be used to load and deliver parts to work cells for repair. Once restored, OTTO will dispatch materials to shipping for return to customers.

“Clearpath’s OTTO self-driving vehicle and intelligent technology will help us serve our customers with speed, flexibility and accuracy, and gives us the ability to scale our operations going forward,” said Patricio Espinosa, director of Repair Operations for the Americas at GE Healthcare.

OTTO enables customers to improve throughput, reduce costs, and to stay flexible with the changing needs of their material flow process. The solution provides infrastructure free navigation, obstacle avoidance, human-safe collaboration, and a payload capacity of 3000 lbs. Customers using OTTO self-driving vehicles typically experience a return on investment in 18-24 months. For more information about OTTO, visit www.ottomotors.com.

April 18, 2016

TextNow’s prospects soar south of border

by Terry Pender

Waterloo maker of low-cost smartphones saw revenues almost double in 2015, but Canadian carriers aren’t interested

Derek Ting will be spending more time in San Francisco as his seven-year-old startup prepares for a marketing campaign to push the low-cost provider of smartphones way past $20 million US in annual revenues.

Ting, co-founder and chief executive officer of TextNow, recently opened the San Francisco office for data mining and analytics to drive marketing and sales. The vice-president of growth, director of business intelligence and director of data science will work there.

A few years ago, TextNow employed 30 people in its Waterloo office. Today, it employs 77 people in the David Johnston Research and Technology Park, three in San Francisco and two in Los Angeles.

Revenues in 2014 totalled $11.2 million US. Last year the company earned more than $20 million US.

“We increased our revenue 75 per cent year-over-year,” Ting said. “And we are trying to meet, or beat, that growth rate this year.”

TextNow was founded in 2009. In 2011, it raised its only round of venture capital — $1.5 million led by Silicon Valley’s David Samuel. Today the company has no red ink, and it has not needed any more outside financing. All of the growth since 2011 was organic.

“We are very, very proud of that,” Ting said.

TextNow has an active user base of between six million and seven million people a month in the U.S. A year ago, it was selling about 1,000 smartphones equipped with its software each month. By December, its monthly shipment was 7,000 smartphones.

Almost all of the company’s business is in the U.S. because no carrier in Canada will partner with the low-cost upstart. TextNow can be used in Canada only on Wi-Fi, so Canadians are a minuscule part of the company’s business.

After graduating form the University of Waterloo in 2009 with degrees in computer engineering, Ting and Jon Lerner wrote an app that enabled text messaging and phone calls on the iPod Touch using Wi-Fi. It was downloaded 13 million times from the Apple app store.

TextNow now was founded. It quickly evolved into the world’s first cloud-based smartphone carrier.

It partnered with Sprint in the U.S. and provides smartphones and monthly plans at a tiny fraction the prices of its big competitors. Its most popular smartphone these days is the Moto E that it sells for $5 US. Plans start at $19.99 US per month and there is no contract.

And now it is preparing to use 21{+s}t-century analytics to increase sales.

“We want to be able to take some of the money we have and reinvest it in into marketing, but we want to do it in a smart way,” Ting said. “We don’t want to spray and pray.”

The data scientist working out of San Francisco, along with the director of growth and director of business intelligence, will lead the way on marketing. They will work at the intersection of marketing, business and engineering. The office was located in San Francisco because the skill sets and talent for that work are readily available there.

“There are a lot of consumer companies there that get their growth this way,” Ting said. “We are a consumer company and we need that knowledge to grow.”

The San Francisco team will develop software that crunches data, provides constant feedback and uses predictive analytics to drive marketing.

“Building the capability to measure if things are working or not working is huge for us,” Ting said.

The startup began with the name EnFlick, but changed it to TextNow. It wanted the same name for the company as its flagship product.

It recently expanded to 15,000-square-feet inside 375 Hagey Blvd. There is a customer care centre that receives an average of 3,300 calls a week. There is another room for software developers and user-experience designers. There is cafeteria for catered lunches that has craft beers on tap and snacks. A company gym opened earlier this year, and on the main floor is the customer fulfilment centre.

TextNow has several suppliers of used, and sometimes new smartphones, from the U.S. It has one supplier in China. Most of the devices are less than two months old. After the smartphones are equipped with TextNow’s firmware, new SIM cards are installed. The devices are put in new boxes with the TextNow logo on the cover. New manuals and accessories are packed into the box.

Every work day a UPS truck picks up a palette of devices around 4 p.m. TextNow promises delivery to anywhere in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Hawaii, in two business days.

Ting walks into a storage room where the shelves are packed with smartphones in new boxes, waiting to be shipped. He takes a box of the shelf and opens it.

“So this is our cheapest phone that we sell right now, the Moto E. This is actually the brand new version. The brand new version is $20, and the refurbished version is $5 US, no contract,” Ting said.

TextNow has several makes and models ready for shipping.

“There is a Galaxy S3. I think this is $40 US on our website,” Ting said. “And you get the brand new version for $50.”

The Galaxy S4 sells for $130 US, the S5 costs $200 US and the high end S6 for $300 U.S.

“We’ve got a lot of great connections,” Ting said. “It is not from one supplier, we have a bunch of suppliers. That is part of our secret sauce, being able to find supply.”

April 18, 2016

APrivacy provides ubiquitous, invisible security protection

Fintech startup APrivacy is set to scale its data encryption and tracking technology business from Hong Kong

Established in Canada in 2010, APrivacy is a fintech expert in data security that caters for the financial services industry, with a primary focus on banks. Its security solutions protect confidential information on any devices, digital documents, emails and even messaging and cloud storage. This is through restricting copying, saving, printing, or forwarding documents and emails; or pull back any document or email message at any time, even after being sent or downloaded.

“It is like an invisible security layer on top of existing applications, so you can use whatever application you want and we make it secure with seamless user experience,” Dr Cédric Jeannot, CEO, APrivacy, explained the uniqueness behind the technology.

Fintech Acceleration Programme

After completing the three-month Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific Programme in 2014, Dr Jeannot, and Michael Basler, COO and CFO, realised the market opportunity and decided to set up in Hong Kong.

“The programme allows us to have a better sense of the city and the lifestyle, and there is a good balance between culture and business. It offers an ideal platform where fintech startups meet the banks and understand the trends and their needs,” Dr Jeannot said.

In September 2015, they set up an office at Smart Space, the co-work space at Cyberport, and another one in downtown Central. To meet its business needs, APrivacy plans to hire up to 20 staff for sales and marketing, customer support, project management and technical deployment by end of 2016.

Massive Market, Sophisticated Customers

Hong Kong has more opportunities for fintech startups than New York, according to Dr Jeannot. “I think local customers are more sophisticated when compared to those in North America. For example, Chinese customers may request the bank staff to use instant messaging apps to communicate with them. If the bank is unable to provide such services, the Chinese customers can easily switch to another bank. Hence, there is an increasing demand for compliance and data centric security solutions,” he explained.

“In terms of market demand of our services, Hong Kong is 10 times larger than the US. And from entrepreneurship point of view, Hong Kong has all the ingredients for startups to flourish – excellent connectivity, strategic location and an increasing number of incubators and accelerators,” he added.

APrivacy was assisted by InvestHK’s Toronto office and the Information and Communications Technology team from the very beginning. Dr Jeannot is very impressed with the efficiency and ease of setting up in Hong Kong. “It is super easy to set up a company in Hong Kong. It is so business-friendly that companies do not need to reinvent the wheel. InvestHK is a one-stop shop for startups and the government services here are very efficient,” he said.

April 1, 2016

AC Grad blueRover partners with Rogers to offer IoT as a service

Rogers first Canadian carrier to introduce Internet of Things ‘as a service’ for Canadian businesses

Mar 31, 2016

Businesses can connect, manage devices and the flow of data from IoT solutions in one place

TORONTO, March 31, 2016 /CNW/ – Rogers Communications announced today it is the first Canadian carrier to offer Internet of Things (IoT) ‘as a service’ to simplify the process of managing complex IoT solutions. Two of the first solutions being offered as a service include Farm & Food Monitoring and Level Monitoring, and Rogers will deliver these exclusively with blueRover, a Canadian-based provider. The solutions will be supported end-to-end by Rogers, including the management of devices, applications and connectivity for customers.

“Connectivity is now table stakes today when it comes to supporting the Internet of Things – for Canadian businesses to drive real productivity with this technology, they need solutions that are simple to deploy and manage,” said Charlie Wade, SVP, Products and Solutions, Enterprise Business Unit. “With blueRover, we’re bringing connectivity, monitoring and management of IoT solutions in-house so our customers can focus on running their business while we take care of managing the day-to-day.”

blueRover, a Canadian leader in the Internet of Things, provides IoT solutions across many industries. These solutions allow businesses to securely track and monitor assets in real-time, and also automate manual business processes using sensor technology and secure data pathways. A Rogers-dedicated IoT Support team will additionally monitor these solutions to ensure the customer’s service is always on.

Rogers Enterprise customers will have access to the following IoT services:

End-to-End Incident Management – Today, many businesses troubleshoot and manage their own IoT device and network issues, with multiple suppliers. IoT as a Service will be fully managed by Rogers, including connectivity monitoring and management of IoT endpoints. Rogers IoT Support Teams will immediately action solutions for customers when issues arise.
Farm & Food Monitoring: Sensor technology that securely monitors, tracks and automates devices and machines that are used in farming and food services industries such as refrigerators, freezers, deep fryers and ovens. These solutions further help business customers to comply with food safety regulations and to reduce food wastage overall.
Level Monitoring: A solution for businesses that require tools to measure and monitor levels of liquids, including grain, oil, water and waste matter. The solution has the ability to monitor liquid levels in order to eliminate the labour intensive processes required by many businesses today to manually refill or empty tanks, bins, and containers prior to capacity. This automated process has potential to reduce the use of emergency deliveries and services, which in turn saves businesses time and money.

“Today just over 45% of Canadian organizations are deploying Internet of Things solutions and we predict the IoT market in Canada to reach a value of $13.5 billion by 2019,” said Nigel Wallis, Research Director, IDC Canada. “By offering IoT solutions as a Service, Rogers, together with blueRover, have the potential to drive adoption of IoT solutions by removing the burden of managing these complex solutions for Canadian businesses.”

The solutions announced today are the first in a series of IoT ‘as a Service’ solutions that Rogers will introduce to the market to remove the complexity for Canadian businesses. Additional solutions being offered as a service today include Cold Chain Management and Food Safety Monitoring for restaurants and food kitchens.

For more information about IoT solutions from Rogers, visit rogers.com/DiscoverIoT

March 17, 2016

AC Grad TextNow Wants to Fix Canada's Broken Wireless Industry – But the Big Three Won't Let Them

By Jacob Serebrin

TextNow is a Canadian company, but its low-cost cellphone plans are only available in the United States.

That’s not because TextNow doesn’t want to offer them here, but because it can’t.

“We have a team of almost 80 people here in Waterloo, Ontario,” says Derek Ting, TextNow’s CEO. “One of the biggest conversations, that comes up every day, is ‘when are we going to bring our service to Canada so we all can use it’ and, so far, it has not been encouraging news.”

TextNow is a mobile virtual network operator. It buys access to wireless networks at wholesale prices, and then re-sells that access to its customers. In the U.S., TextNow buys access from Sprint, the country’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, but in Canada, it can’t find a wireless carrier willing to sell it access.

“We’ve kind of hit a brick wall with that,” says Ting. “We tried diligently. We went through a 12-month process with Rogers and at the end they said no.”

Ting says he thinks that Canada’s big three wireless carriers are “kind of in a pact to keep the market sealed from guys like us.”

It’s a different story in the U.S., where every major cell phone provider sells mobile network access on the wholesale market.

“The reason they do it is because of the competition, they truly compete with each other. They’re not in some pact to close the market off,” Ting says.

And that means incumbents win and consumers lose, he says.

“The Canadian consumer is the one who gets screwed in the end,” Ting says.

TextNow uses software to switch everything a phone sends and receives – including calls and texts – to WiFi whenever it’s available, allowing it to cut down on the amount of network time it uses and charge lower prices than incumbent providers.

While Ting says he’d like there to a market-based solution to the problem, he thinks any changes in the market will have to come from the federal government.

“Other countries either have perfect competition, like in the U.S., or when they don’t have perfect competition, the regulators mandate some sort of allocation of spectrum to smaller players,” he says. “We don’t, and as a result, we have the most unaffordable market.”

There is a precedent in Canada, incumbent cable and phone companies are already required to sell wholesale access to their wired networks.

But last month, the CRTC, rejected an appeal by a group of MNVOs to expand that regulation to cover wireless networks on the grounds that it would disincentivize incumbent carriers from making investments in their networks.

Ting doesn’t buy it, he says similar regulations have been implemented in countries like Germany with no impact on network quality.

“Long-term, the ideal situation, is the CRTC stops siding with Telus, Bell and Rogers and starts thinking about regulation that benefits Canadians as a whole, not just the interests of the big three,” he says.

That change, though, will likely have to come from politicians, instead of regulators and there’s no sign that will be coming any time soon.