Merger Speculation Stikes North Of The Border

Now that the North American wireless industry has talked the possible US GSM carrier merger to death, they need a new topic. So they've shifted their attention to Canada. Due to downward revised numbers from Microcell, the smallest national Canadian operator, analysts believe they maybe a target for Rogers AT&T. Both operators use GSM, but Roger's GSM network already has better coverage than Microcell's. Fueling the speculation is the AT&T/Voicestream rumor. Voicestream owns 15% of Microcell. So if AT&T and Voicestream merge, it may make sense for their Canadian counterparts to do so as well. All this gossip and speculation makes for the great summer reading.