Nadir Mohamed, the chief executive of Rogers Communications Inc., today defended the company's wireless pricing and reiterated his focus on improving customer service as a host of new wireless competitors prepare to enter the market.

He said Rogers' prices for wireless data services, a huge growth area for the industry, are "in sync" with what subscribers need to make use of the current generation of smartphones, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s line of BlackBerry devices.

"I think we are now, at this stage, pricing ahead of the curve," Mohamed said during a keynote speech at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto.

While wireless data prices have been falling in Canada over the past year, some observers suggest that the pricing tactics of Rogers and rivals Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp. continue to limit the widespread adoption of mobile services in this country. Only about 70 per cent of Canadians currently own cellphones, while far fewer own high-end smartphones. By contrast, wireless penetration rates in some European countries are over 100 per cent.

The federal government cited the need for more competition and lower prices when it designed last year's auction of wireless airwaves — a move that resulted in the creation of several new wireless companies.

Public Mobile, Globalive Wireless and DAVE Wireless have all pledged to have services up and running by late this year or early 2010.

The issue of wireless data pricing at Rogers exploded a year ago as the cable giant prepared to introduce the iPhone 3G in Canada. Rogers' initial iPhone pricing was met with harsh criticism from consumers who were concerned they wouldn't be able to use the device's extensive data features. In the face of an online petition, Rogers switched gears and created a special data package that offered prospective iPhone users 6 gigabytes of data for $30 a month.

While Mohamed said that Rogers "learned its lesson" during its iPhone roll out, he noted that the company's data a year later shows that 95 per cent of iPhone subscribers use less than 500 megabytes of data while 99 per cent use less than 1 gigabyte.

As a result, he said the company intends to make use of similar promotional pricing in the future in order to allow customers to test the features of new devices without fear of incurring a hefty wireless bill.

"It's mostly about taking away the discomfort."

Rogers recently reintroduced its $30 for 6 gigabytes plan for a limited time in conjunction with release of new Google Android-powered devices and the latest version of the iPhone, which will go on sale later this month.

Mohamed painted a picture of a maturing wireless industry in Canada, saying that the future is going to be all about mobile Internet and that wireless data will increasingly become a driver of sales at Rogers. That includes a focus on mobile commerce, with Rogers, Bell and Telus jointly launching today a service called Zoompass that will allow wireless subscribers to transfer money to one another.

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"It's the beginning of something that will revolutionize the industry."

He also said that Rogers sees a big opportunity to improve customer service, noting that he recently put in place a policy that ties managers' bonuses to improvements in resolving customer complaints.