Montreal-based Cogeco Cable has announced today it will attend the September 29, 2014, CRTC public hearing on the review of wholesale mobile wireless services.
Cogeco hopes to get the CRTC to favour resellers as a way of increasing wireless competition:
Cogeco believes that relying on Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) as an additional competitive model should be encouraged by appropriate regulatory measures. MVNOs are mobile wireless service providers leasing capacity from facilities-based wireless carriers such as Bell, Rogers and TELUS.
Louis Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer, COGECO Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc., said in a statement “Given the high concentration in the Canadian mobile wireless market, Cogeco strongly believes that regulatory measures fostering the entry of MVNOs in addition to other measures will increase competition in the market and enhance consumer choice.”
Is this Cogeco’s official plans to enter the wireless market as an MVNO? It won’t be easy unless wireless roaming rates from incumbents are lower, which is why they are attending this public hearing in the first place. The company told the Financial Post it plans to offer wireless services as a reseller in areas where it sells cable.
Earlier this year, the CRTC banned exclusivity clauses in roaming agreements, specifically targeting Rogers. Meanwhile, recent interim caps on incumbent roaming rates have already benefitted WIND Mobile and Eastlink, which has passed on savings to its customers.
