Other carrots offered by Rogers include a pledge to bring next-generation 5G cellular network coverage to 95 per cent of Quebec’s population over the next five years and a vow to set up a tech innovation hub in the province that would create up to 300 jobs.
Rogers says it has invested more than $2 billion into its Quebec wireless network over the past decade, has almost two million customers in the province and has introduced next-generation 5G cellular technology in Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau and Trois Rivières.Yet the latest exchange between the two sides leaves the deal, at least publicly, at its pre-existing impasse.
Rogers, meanwhile, is Cogeco’s biggest shareholder, but it lacks control because of Cogeco’s dual share structure. Rogers owns approximately 41 per cent of Cogeco’s outstanding subordinate voting shares and 33 per cent of those of Cogeco Communications.