Shaw owns 18 wireless licences covering mostly Western Canada. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Shaw Communications plans to finally get moving on launching a cellphone network in 2010.

During its first-quarter earnings announcement Thursday, the company said it will take "initial steps to commence wireless activities, with build-out planned over the next several years."

Shaw did not elaborate on its plans and a company official did not immediately return a request for comment.

In 2008, Calgary-based Shaw spent $189 million on 18 wireless licences covering mostly Western Canada, with a few in northern Ontario as well. Unlike most other new companies that acquired wireless spectrum, Shaw decided to hold off on plans to launch a network.

Along with main rival Telus, Shaw was a vocal opponent of fellow new entrant Globalive and helped convince the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to conduct a public review of that company.

The CRTC ended up blocking Globalive's launch after finding it didn't meet Canadian ownership and control requirements, a decision the federal government reversed in December.

Globalive, operating as Wind, launched service in December in Toronto and Calgary, Shaw's backyard. Wind also announced on Wednesday it is hiring in Edmonton, as well as Ottawa, with further plans to launch in Vancouver.

Lagged in converting TV customers to digital

RBC Capital Markets analyst Jonathan Allen said Shaw's delay in launching wireless has had more to do with its television market than the new threat from Wind. Shaw has lagged other North American cable companies in converting its television customers to digital from analogue and has been concentrating on addressing that issue.

Still, the competitive threats are growing. At least one other new cellphone company, John Bitove's DAVE Wireless, plans to launch service this year in several cities, including Shaw's main markets of Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

"From a timing perspective, it makes sense to be sooner rather than later," Allen said.

He said Shaw is likely to launch a high-end wireless service, possibly with mobile television included.

The last remaining major buyer of licences in the 2008 auction that has not yet announced wireless plans is Bragg Communications, which runs cable provider EastLink in the Maritimes. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

Allen said Bragg has been focused on integrating several recent acquisitions and has been short on the money needed to build a wireless network. Those integrations should be finished this year, he said.

Separately, Shaw announced first-quarter revenue rose 11 per cent to $906 million over the same period last year. Operating income was $475 million, an increase of 29 per cent from a year earlier.