Canada’s Top 10 Wireless Solutions Companies had a very successful year, producing $3.01 billion in revenues—a 52.43 per cent increase over last year’s total revenues of $1.97 billion. In terms of geographic composition, British Columbia and Ontario contribute 40 per cent each, while Alberta and Quebec contribute 10 per cent each. Research In Motion (RIM) had another great year, topping the list again in 2006. The company achieved significant milestones, bypassing the $2 billion revenue mark (it generated $2.4 billion in revenue with 53 per cent year-over-year revenue growth) and accruing a total of five million subscribers to its BlackBerry service. In 2006, the company brought the BlackBerry service to many new nations worldwide and also introduced the BlackBerry Pearl and BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1, which allows easier population expansion, large-scale deployment management and platform integration. RIM started 2007 with more than 150 carrier partners worldwide.



Since RIM’s revenue comprises 80 per cent of the total for the Top 10 Wireless Solutions Companies, it is appropriate to look at the growth rates of all other companies on the list. Excluding RIM, the Top 10 Wireless Solutions Companies produced $606.4 million in revenues—a 50.32 per cent increase over the $403.4 million these companies produced in 2005.

This is in heavy contrast to what happened last year, when the top 10 Wireless Solutions Companies (excluding RIM) actually experienced a revenue decline of 32 per cent. The overall revenue growth in this sector can be attributed to the strong performance in seven of the Top 10 Wireless Solutions Companies (including RIM). Sierra Wireless, from Richmond, B.C., posted 104 per cent year-over-year revenue growth with $255 million in revenues; Versatile Systems grew 167 per cent; Calgary’s CSI Wireless grew 34 per cent; while Redknee, Glentel (wireless business division) and Sirit grew 27 per cent, 25 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. Wireless companies have presented an impressive performance this year, and the Branham300 captures a wide array of wireless solutions companies, including wireless device and service providers, mobile dispatching systems specialists, RFID solutions providers and mobile software makers, to name a few.