Luann Lasalle, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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MONTREAL - As Toronto - based Globalive tries to become a player in Canada's cellphone market, its CEO will use an online vox populi to influence decisions on everything from its network technology and cellphone prices to customer billing.

Anthony Lacavera said Thursday that while he has a business plan for Globalive Wireless Management Corp., he wants to be different from his competitors.

Currently the Canadian cellphone market is dominated by three companies: Telus Corp. (TSX:T), BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) and Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B).

But Globealive bid $442 million for federal licences for spectrum - the radio waves over which cellphone signals travel - in a recent Industry Canada auction, which set aside some spectrum for new players wishing to challenge the dominant players.

Lacavera said he wants Globalive to give Canadians a say in how he builds his wireless company.

"I think it's about time a company did a lot more listening and a lot less telling," he said in an interview from Toronto.

Canadians probably best know Globalive for dial-around long-distance provider Yak, which has no contract and no access fees and also offers high-speed Internet and home phone services in four provinces.

Lacavera believes without consumer input, "we would be just another phone company" and has launched WirelessSoapbox.com, a online forum in which he said he will regularly participate.

"We think WirelessSoapbox.com is going to give us lots of insight into what Canadians are really looking for, what are their priorities, what kinds of services and features they want, and what kind of plans they want to see," he said.

The website had more than 26 pages of entries on Thursday with comments such as "No fees for incoming calls," "An all-in monthly fee that includes everything," and "Please come in the game ASAP. I am waiting to make a switch."

Telus said it will take more than an online discussion to compete.

"We look forward to Globalive and others actually entering the market so we can compete on value rather than rhetoric," Telus said in a statement.

"We have been competing since we launched service in 1986, and as our extensive range of wireless plans and best selection of smartphones demonstrate, Globalive will need more than just a web page to compete."

Rogers and Bell declined comment on Thursday.

Analyst Carmi Levi said the Globalive website is "conceptually brilliant" but it has a downside.

"Realistically, this initiative faces a significant challenge because resources like this do tend to be used as rant lines and as forums for rambling, anonymous and often incoherent postings," said Levy, senior vice-president of strategic consulting for Toronto-based AR Communications Inc.

The challenge will be to sift through irrelevant material for "nuggets" that can be incorporated into Globalive's business plan, Levy said.

Lacavera is planning to have customers for his wireless company by next summer and is eventually aiming for 1.5 million, many of them with pre-paid phones, by 2011 plus another two million consumers in the longer term.

Analyst Mark Tauschek said Globalive's customer goals might be a bit "aggressive" but it needs to have deep pockets and a strong network to survive.

"Globalive is going to have to prove through whatever brands they use . . . that the network is stable and reliable," said Tauschek of Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont.

Lacavera wants to build a national wireless network, expected to cost about $1 billion, and have it fully operational by 2013.

He said what Canadians will say about it "will have a real impact on the technology decision" but he is favouring a GSM network - the standard used throughout Europe and many parts of Asia as well as a growing portion of North America.

In Canada, Rogers currently has the only GSM networks - Rogers Wireless and Fido - giving it an edge in offering some products such as the Apple iPhone that aren't available to its two biggest rivals.

Lacavera said he is hunting for Canadian private investment partners and needs spectrum in Quebec, which was gobbled up by Quebecor Inc. (TSX:QBR.B), to be a truly national cellphone company.

"We will be engaging very quickly and reaching out to everyone and anyone who will talk to us about our value proposition and what we can bring to a potential partnership."

Lacavera also has Orascom Telecom as a business partner, an Egyptian company investing millions in Globalive that he said has the "global buying power, global scale" needed for his company.