Back in early 2023, Telus confirmed it had acquired independent internet service provider, Altima.
Altima Telecom is based in Richmond, B.C. and was acquired by Telus in June 2022.
Currently, Altima offers customers services through Telus subsidiary, Koodo, servicing B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Services include internet, Stream+, wireless plans and wireless home phone.
Now, there have been whispers on Reddit that Telus has “just” acquired City Wide Communications, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. City Wide offers internet, home phone, and TV for residential customers.
So did Telus just acquire City Wide Communications? We can tell you the answer is yes, but through Altima Telecom, confirmed a Telus spokesperson to iPhone in Canada on Friday afternoon.
The Telus spokesperson explained in an email Altima Telecom purchased the consumer subscribers of City Wide–back in the summer of 2024. So the deal went down around seven months ago and sounds like employees are just being told now.
Currently, the City Wide website makes no mention of the Altima Telecom. Instead, it continues to say, “City Wide is owned and operated by Nova Scotians. Atlantic Canada is proudly our whole pie.”
City Wide says it has been “Atlantic Canada’s most affordable internet and cable providers since 1997,” according to its website. “That’s more than 25 years of helping our customers in Atlantic Canada have access to high-speed, affordable and reliable internet,” it reads.
So there you have it, folks. Another day and another independent ISP swallowed up by the ‘Big 3’, albeit this time indirectly through a subsidiary.
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Expect a flood of promotions and introductory rates designed to bamboozle customers—only to see rates skyrocket later to cover the cost of these acquisitions. National providers like Telus buy up local companies because they struggle to compete in markets like Nova Scotia on their own. It’s tough to sit around the table with friends comparing internet bills when rates swing by 40% or more. Who wants that kind of uncertainty? There are still some great local choices like Internet Atlantic who (on their website) advocate against these sales tricks.
At least until one of the Big 4 buys Internet Atlantic!
Did anyone say "monopoly" or "cartel"? I hope not, we all know the gubernmint and CRTC are NOT in the pocket of big telcos.
Now TELUS could acquire NOVUS Telecom in BC. It was co founded by BC TEL, a predecessor company to TELUS. With cord cutting and AI, the telecom business is evolving to data centre based services like streaming, gaming, digital twin simulation etc.
This is the type of acquisition that the competition bureau needs to stop. This destroys competition, it destroys productivity and creativeness in this country.
Yoink.