By Ken Kelley
The president of Bell subsidiary Northwestel said Tuesday that the company is aiming to increase its fiber in the north over the next 12 months, which would improve access to at least the minimum speed objective to an increasing percentage of households in the region.
On the second day of the Canadian Telecom Summit, Northwestel President Curtis Shaw noted that as recently as 2016, not one northern household met the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50 Mbps download with unlimited data. Today, he said more than 22,000 northern homes — over 80% of households — not only have…
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Company believes they will capture those customers with their own offering
OTTAWA — The Competition Tribunal heard evidence today that while Quebecor subsidiary Videotron had the opportunity to purchase Shaw Mobile along with Freedom Mobile, they turned it down because they believe they will be able to capture those customers on their own.
Jean-François Lescadres, Videotron’s vice-president of finances answered questions today before the tribunal, which is currently hearing evidence on an application made by the Commissioner of Competition to block the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.
Because of concerns about the impact of the deal…
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OTTAWA — A lawyer for Rogers Communications today pushed back on the testimony of Dr. Nathan Miller, a professor at Georgetown University who compiled a report for the Commissioner of Competition supporting his opposition of the merger of Rogers and Shaw Communications and the proposed remedy that would see Quebecor subsidiary Videotron acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.
Miller yesterday referred to the remedy as “inadequate” and claimed the divestiture would mean less incentive for the new owner to invest in Freedom. As he reiterated today, he is “skeptical” a divested Freedom would be profitable.
When questioned by Rogers’ lawyer Crawford Smith,…
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OTTAWA – The remedy Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications offered in an attempt to gain the necessary regulatory approvals for their proposed merger is “inadequate”, according to Dr. Nathan Miller, a professor at Georgetown University who was asked to put together a report on the matter for the Competition Bureau.
Miller spoke today about his report at the Competition Tribunal hearing into the bureau’s application to block the merger.
The remedy he referred to is the sale of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron to address concerns about the impact of the merger on wireless competition in Canada.
Miller argued the…
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CALGARY — Shaw Communications announced today the launch of Disney+ on Shaw TV and Shaw Stream.
With the launch, Shaw’s Fibre+ Internet customers can “watch classic and original shows and movies available from Disney’s six premium brands — including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star — through one integrated in-home platform,” says a press release.
“With the integration of Disney+ into Shaw’s robust content lineup, it’s now easier than ever for Shaw TV and Shaw Stream customers to watch the Disney classics they already know and love, as well as discover new originals, movies, mini-series, documentaries and…
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OTTAWA – Documents newly made public today at the Competition Tribunal’s hearing into the Competition Bureau’s application to block the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications reveals Telus’ strategy to stop and delay the deal.
The document, prepared for Telus’ board on the company’s second quarter of 2022, says Telus continued to execute its “top-of-house strategy” where its executive leadership team met “with political leaders to kill, shape and slow the deal.”
Additionally, the document notes that during the quarter, “NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, repeatedly asked PM Trudeau during Question Period to block the merger, using TELUS talking points”…
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OTTAWA – The Competition Tribunal hearing on the Competition Bureau’s application to block the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications continued today, although mostly in camera.
The tribunal heard from Blaik Kirby, group president, consumer and small and medium business at BCE, who also appeared yesterday. He spoke about the competitive environment and Bell’s response to the launch of Shaw Mobile.
“If there is a divestiture the resulting environment is actually going to better for Bell Mobility than the current environment,” Kirby told the tribunal panel, speaking about the divestiture of Shaw’s wireless assets.
“When we look at Shaw today, the…
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Shaw Mobile is a big reason why Freedom stores are struggling, another witness says
OTTAWA – Today was the third day of the Competition Tribunal hearing on the Competition Bureau’s application to block the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.
Yesterday and today, two Freedom Mobile dealers appeared as witnesses, each answering questions about the struggles they say they have faced since the merger was announced.
The first of the two witnesses, Sudeep Verma, opened his first Wind Mobile store in 2011 and continued on to open a total of 19 stores. He operated all of those stores until…
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TORONTO — Rogers Communications today announced its financial results for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, reporting its total revenue rose 2% to $3.74 billion compared to the same quarter of 2021.
The increase was attributed to strong performance in the company’s wireless and media segments.
Rogers’ Q3 results included $150 million in customer credits paid out to compensate for its July network outage that affected both its wireless and wireline services. Excluding those customer credits, Rogers says its total revenue in Q3 2022 rose 6% compared to Q3 2021.
Total service revenue for the company increased 3% to $3.23 billion…
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OTTAWA – Day two of the Competition Tribunal hearing on the Competition Bureau’s application to block the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications saw witnesses answer questions drawing attention to the fact that while the Commissioner of Competition is opposing the whole merger in its original form, this past June the two companies announced a deal was made to sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron in an attempt to assuage concerns related to wireless competition.
Stephanie Assad, competition law officer at the Competition Bureau, told the three-person tribunal panel she helped draft a request for information in September…
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