At issue is whether the divestiture of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron Ltd. for $2.85-billion would weaken Canada’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, which serves customers in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The competition watchdog asserts that Videotron has no track record of operating in Western Canada, and that separating Freedom from assets such as Shaw’s cable network and brand would hamper its competitiveness.
“Of course, that is precisely why Telus has made every conceivable effort to attack and to undermine and to derail this transaction over a period of almost two years,” he later added. Shaw’s lawyers have argued, on the basis of the testimony provided by several company executives, that the Competition Bureau has exaggerated Freedom Mobile’s success and competitive significance. Shaw representatives have told the tribunal that Freedom has not been profitable and that Shaw has yet to recoup the $4.5-billion it has invested in wireless since 2016.
Mr. Rook said that Videotron has negotiated a “very attractive price” for the business, as well as favourable terms with regards to roaming, cable network access and other agreements. Jonathan Lisus, a lawyer representing Rogers, said Wednesday that the argument “makes no sense,” adding that there is already a regulatory regime in place to respond to allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.“If the [Competition Bureau’s] draconian remedy is granted, the industry and competition will regress, to the detriment of the public interest, consumer choice and telecom policy,” Mr. Lisus said.
Canada is a joke. Oligopolies are allowed. We should be in the streets. No wonder Trudeau is pushing internet censorship.
I was on Vancouver Island for a wedding during the outage and my Airbnb luckily had Shaw, if they had been merged I would have had no cell service, wifi or access to my bank account for the entire time on the other side of the country.
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