WIND Mobile, Canadian's fourth "national" wireless carrier, now has service up and running in Calgary, AB. Services launched in Toronto, ON last week.

On Friday, the company traveled to Calgary to celebrate the opening of the first WIND retail stores in that city, the second to be exposed to the new carrier brand. The festivities took place at the 1013 17th Avenue S.W. location, which also serves as home to an 8-foot monument. Similar to the 20-footer erected at Queen's Quay in Toronto, the monument depicts a person holding a phone, in celebration of the average customer that WIND says has helped shape its offerings.

WIND Mobile, owned by Globalive Wireless, focuses its services on no contracts, selling phones outright, and unlimited calling, texting, and data. While it's too early for the brand to have carved out a niche market, it appears that it's the younger crowd who's most enamored with the brand thus far.

Globalive acquired enough spectrum to launch its wireless carrier service in every province across Canada, with the exception of Quebec. The company says it should be ready to go in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Edmonton in 2010, with additional coverage supplied by roaming agreements, and to be expanded over the coming years.

Perhaps in direct response to the recent controversy over whether WIND is actually a true Canadian brand, Anthony Lacavera, Globalive's Chairman, mused at the launch event in Calgary that WIND is "Canada's company. Built by Canadians, for Canadians." While Globalive is indeed a Canadian company, Egyptian telecom company Orascom Telecom has a significant financial interest in the firm.

There are now four standalone WIND stores in Calgary at Marlborough Mall, 515 Marlborough Way N.E. Unit 96; Kensington Village, 211 10th St. N.W., Westbrook Mall 8B, 1200 37th St. S.W., and the aforementioned 17th Avenue location. Additionally, WIND store-within-store concepts can be found in three Blockbuster locations in the city, including at 7740 18th St. E., 380 Canyon Meadows Dr. S.E., and 62 Saddletowne Circle N.E. In all, between Toronto and Calgary,

WIND now has nine standalone stores and 16 store-within-stores in Blockbuster locations. The company currently sells five products: the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Maple, Huawei U7519, Samsung Gravity 2, and the Huawei E181 USB data stick. A dozen or so devices are expected to be added to the roster in 2010.

The first WIND customer in Calgary (centre) enjoys his new purchase. He is joined by Ken Campbell, CEO (left) and a 17th Avenue store employee.

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