Public Mobile Goes Public

If anything, one of Canada’s newest wireless players has displayed a knack for attracting a lot of attention.

Earlier today, BMV Holdings held a press conference – something that rarely happens these days – to announce its new corporate moniker, Public Mobile. The venue was standing-room-only with media, bloggers, industry and investment analysts, and industry consultants. Either it was the novelty factor of actually getting to attend a press conference or there’s serious interest in how Public Mobile is going to break into the market with an all-you-can-eat, no-frills package that will sell for $40/month.

The challenge facing Public Mobile is converting all this buzz into customers. The company is clearly banking on the belief there are still many people hungry for a low-cost wireless offering at a time when Rogers, Bell and Telus are aggressively pushing their lower-cost Fido, Solo and Koodoo brands respectively.

Alek Krstajic, PM’s chief executive, is adamant the market is ripe for an affordable product for people who don’t currently have a wireless phone, or those looking for less expensive alternatives that come without a long-term contract. He looks at what Rogers, Bell and Telus are doing with their discount brands as an effort to keep customers from leaving entirely, as opposed to a concerted push into the lower end of the wireless market.

What will be particularly interesting to see is PM’s marketing approach. While online advertising and social media are gaining a lot of traction with consumer-facing brands, a good chunk of PM’s market is not actively engaged with the Internet or, for that matter, technology.

So, how do you reach those consumers without spending big bucks on billboards and newspaper advertising? Krstajic, said a key part of the marketing approach will be relationships with retailers as a cost-effective way to reach consumers. While Krstajic, did not provide specifics, my sense is no one should be surprised, for example, is PM unveils a deal with a mass-market retailer such as Wal-Mart, Zellers, Home Depot or No-Frills.

There’s little doubt there is room for more wireless competition given penetration rates in Canada are nowhere near what they are in many other industrialized country. The challenge will be reaching consumers, and convincing them now is the time for a wireless plan, while fending off the incumbents.

It should be a very interesting Fall within the Canadian wireless industry.

Note: It’s encouraging to see Public Mobile use the .ca domain name. With more than one million .ca domains registered, .ca has become a mainstream online vehicle. Of course, I’m sure PM would also love the .com domain if they can convince the owner, Beau Buck, to give it up.

Technorati Tags: Alek Krstajic, public mobile, wireless