PIAC supports it and Cogeco remains silent
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – On May 4, 2021, Data on Tap (dotmobile) filed an appeal to Cabinet of the CRTC’s review of mobile wireless services, which dealt with access by Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) to facilities of the three large wireless operators.
In a nutshell, the CRTC gave access only to players that already had facilities.
To that extent Québecor directly benefited from the policy and subsequently acquired more facilities at the last 3500 MHz auction, as did 11 other regional competitors.
And in their Sept. 22 comments on dotmobile’s petition, written in French, they state their firm intention to stimulate wireless competition in Canada, as they did in Québec since 2006. They wish to become the fourth wireless player taking on the three large enterprises that dominated the market in the last decades.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) supports dotmobile’s petition and focuses its claim on the fact that “the Commission strongly hints to the fact that the policy was tailor-made for Shaw, that is, the record shows the extent to which Shaw’s Freedom Mobile is featured as a critical wireless disruptor to the national carriers’ market power. Considering Shaw’s pending exit as the 4th MNO, a policy based on a record in which Shaw argued that ‘Freedom (their wireless brand) and the other new regional competitors need more time in a stable policy and regulatory environment to get the job done’ is no longer relevant policy.”
Shaw entered into an agreement to sell its assets to Rogers between the completion of the CRTC record and the issuance of its decision. PIAC argues the Commission should have gone back to the drawing board in light of the changed circumstances.
Québecor is rumoured to be interested in acquiring Shaw’s wireless assets if regulators force Rogers to divest.
PIAC comments add: “We expect that Cogeco is setting up to be acquired in the future at a higher cost, just as Shaw has done. TBayTel, Ice Wireless, Iristel are too small and too localized to have any appreciable effect on national wireless prices. Xplornet, as previously described, is currently too limited in financial and operational scale to maintain functional Internet services.”
Cabinet will have to rule on MVNOs for the third time in the last few years and will have to do so on or before April 14, 2022.
