OTTAWA – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said something Tuesday that caught the eye of many in the telecom business – that he believes the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister is beginning to move away from a commitment to facilities’-based competition when it comes to the telecom and wireless industries.
In his speech to the Banff World Media Fest, a gathering of North American TV types, chairman Blais offered three ways to improve wireless competition in Canada after he departs his position on June 17. His second idea was “to mandate wholesale access for mobile virtual network operators", said Blais. “After all, in his speech on June 5, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Development has implicitly opened the door to the abandonment of facilities-based competition.”
Adding “implicitly” is an interesting way to say that. Using that word means Blais is saying he knows that the Minister believes, not explicitly but instead indirectly or tacitly, that the long, long held government tenet of fostering facilities-based competition in Canada should be abandoned.
While ISED Minister Navdeep Bains definitely did not say anything of the sort in his speech to the Canadian Telecom Summit last week (pictured), during a scrum with reporters after, he did muddy the waters a bit when asked about MVNOs. Click here for our coverage of that.
All that said, we asked for clarity after the CRTC chairman's Tuesday pronouncement and put the question directly to the Minister’s office. Here’s our question, word for word:
“As you no doubt have heard by now, outgoing CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said this in a speech to the Banff Media Festival today: ‘After all, in his speech on June 5, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Development has implicitly opened the door to the abandonment of facilities-based competition.’ Now, the word ‘implicitly’ is key, I suppose, but the Minister said with certainty at the Canadian Telecom Summit last week that he fully supports facilities based competition.
“So, my question to you is, is M Blais right? Is the door ajar?”
The Minister’s office response was curt: “Our government is committed to facilities based competition.”
