Bell and Telus moving from CDMA to "GSM like" technology?

A UBS Investment Research report based on industry rumors says that Bell and Telus are moving from CDMA to "GSM like" technology.

The report mentions that more functional GSM smartphones such as Apple's iPhone are a driver for this switch. Rogers is the number one wireless provider in Canada, and not only are they the sole provider for Apple iPhone (Fido is owned by Rogers too), but they can allow their customers to roam on other GSM network worldwide (all of South America, Africa and Europe).

It goes on to question whether such a "halfway switch" and not true GSM would be of any benefit.

I say: you either comply to a standard or you don't. There is no middle ground.