Canada's mobile market might be only a fraction of the size of its southern neighbor's, but that's still millions and millions of potential customers. Shaw Communications, a major Canadian phone and Internet provider based in Calgary, is making a move to grab a portion of it. Yesterday Shaw announced its intention to buy Wind Mobile, the country's fourth-largest mobile carrier. Shaw will buy the company from its parent Mid-Bowline Group for 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (about 1.15 billion USD).

Wind has only been operating for almost exactly six years, and in an impressively short time has amassed just under a million subscribers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.