Does Ottawa really want a fourth big wireless carrier?
Posted January 14, 2014 12:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The federal government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on an ad campaign telling wireless customers like you that you deserve better service and cheaper prices. But does it really want a fourth big wireless company?
Laurence Surtees, a vice-president with the research firm IDC Canada, says foreign ownership rules that would allow smaller companies like Wind Mobile to be bought out prevent the very thing Ottawa says it wants.
“If you melted Wind Mobile with Allstream, you’d have that fourth player that Ottawa seems to say it would like, and yet through the other side of its mouth, it promulgates decisions that preclude that. You know, we have to kind of scratch our heads and go ‘What’s up?'”
Last year, the federal government refused to allow a deal that would see Allstream bought out by an Egyptian company.
Wind Mobile was set to bid on valuable wireless spectrum that’s being auctioned off by the federal government starting today. It pulled out of the auction last night because its European owner refused to supply the funding to a company it can’t wholly control.
Surtees says that’s also a big red flag. “There’s a strong element of hypocrisy between Ottawa’s declarations and its actions, which leads us with the crass notion that perhaps all they really care about is getting money for the coffers from the auction.”
There are 10 bidders for this block of spectrum, including Rogers, the owner of this station.
Industry Canada says we should know in a few weeks which companies bought spectrum, and how much they paid.
