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To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (31746)	6/4/1999 2:21:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

"Fido"> From the May 31, 1999, issue of Wireless Week Wireless Banking Coming For Canadian Consumers By James Careless MONTREAL--In a first for the Canadian wireless telephone industry, Microcell Solutions Inc. and Royal Bank announced their intention to provide wireless banking over Microcell's "Fido" personal communications services handsets. The deal is anything but final. Still, it signals a step forward for the Canadian wireless industry, which sees value-added services as the way to attract new customers, and differentiate competitors. Meanwhile, for Royal Bank, wireless banking is a natural extension of both its wireline banking service--which has 1.3 million users--and its online banking Web site, which already serves 400,000 users. "We want to offer banking services that are relevant to the consumer, and important to us is giving them the ability to access our online services anytime, any-where," said Don Blue, Royal Bank's senior vice president of electronic commerce. So why Fido? Royal Bank choose Microcell for the roll- out--expected in fourth-quarter 1999--because it uses global system for mobile communications equipment. "It's the only wireless technology using what's called a 'subscriber identity module,' which is based on a smart card," Blue said. "It allows us to authenticate the user and cipher the data using the private keys in the smart card." For André Tremblay, president and CEO of Microcell Telecommunications Inc. (parent of Microcell Solutions), the deal is good news for three reasons. First, wireless banking represents the launch of mobile e-commerce, which is potentially a source of major future revenue for his company. Second, wireless banking gives Fido an edge over its competitors because none of them use GSM. Third, "it will be possible to deliver the service on almost any handset we have right now," Tremblay said. That's great news, in fact, because experience shows that there's a healthy market waiting for wireless banking. "For example, in the U.K., for the first year Barclay and Cellnet attracted 175,000 customers" with wireless banking service, he said. "So we believe it's going to be a very attractive service." Even Tremblay doesn't expect to hold a monopoly on Canadian wireless banking for long, GSM technology notwithstanding. That's probably a good strategy, given that Blue describes the Royal Bank-Microcell deal as "a partnership, but it's not exclusive in the long term." In addition, Tremblay's not setting his heart on wireless banking as a "killer app" in the war against the competition: Clearnet Communications Inc., Rogers Cantel, and both Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility groups of companies. Once allies, Bell and Telus announced a parting of the ways May 18. Both are now national wireless carriers. When it comes to deciding which wireless company will win, "I believe it will be a battle of who delivers services the best way, and who is the best marketer," he said. Still, the fact that Fido will be first with wireless banking won't do Microcell any harm.