As the Rogers-Shaw merger remains up in the air, rivals Bell and Telus want the federal government to block the sale of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor.
According to unnamed sources speaking to Reuters, Bell and Telus argued in letters to the Competition Bureau and federal government it should block Quebecor from buying Shaw’s wireless business, which includes Freedom Mobile and Shaw Mobile.
Bell and Telus reportedly argue in their letters Quebecor has previously not utilized obtained wireless spectrum, and this goes against competition, which the federal government is trying to achieve.
Quebecor told Reuters the lobbying by Bell and Telus “runs counter to the public interest and the pro-competition policy that the Government of Canada has pursued for several years.”
The parent company of Videotron in Quebec, Quebecor has been slated as a credible buyer of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.
The Competition Bureau has outright denied the Rogers-Shaw merger, arguing it goes against wireless competition in the country, while noting the sale of Freedom Mobile to other existing telecoms would not satisfy competition requirements.
While the CRTC has approved the transfer of broadcasting licenses in the Rogers-Shaw deal, the Competition Bureau has decided against the merger. For now, the deal still requires approval from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
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Of course they are. Garbage.
Since the competition bureau is blocking this, can the merger still go through?
Good question. I wonder if the approval needs to be unanimous across all 3 bodies or if the Competition Bureau’s pushback is just more of a point to argue on after the merger is pushed through by the others (CRTC & ISED). We did see a federal court judge stepping in so there might still be an opportunity for the CB to contest the merger. Not sure who will back them up as all 3 incumbents want Freedom gone (not talking about Shaw here).
I mean, this is assuming the actual purpose behind the Competition Bureau’s existence is to actually block anti-competitive mergers such as this one from going through and not just to provide a source of sensationalist news content with no teeth.
Why would Quebecor buy spectrum, spend shareholders’ money just to not use it.
Blocking them from trying to get what they need to use the spectrum because they haven’t used the spectrum yet is ridiculous.
I think the idea is they might be squatting on the spectrum, speculating that it’ll be lucrative to sell it off later.
Yes, but these licenses are contingent on usage. The clock starts I believe in July and if they don’t start using it within the year they lose it for nothing and the government will sell it again to someone else.
Interesting.