Canada’s Wireless Giants Lobby against Verizon’s Plans for Acquisition in Canada

By: Talha Bhatti  |   August 27th, 2013   |   Business, News, O Canada

According to reports,  leading Canadian wireless service providers Rogers , Telus and Bell have launched a campaign against U.S telecom company, Verizon, in order to hinder its acquisition of the newly launched  Canadian carrier, Wind mobile. By acquiring Wind Mobile, Verizon would be able to operate in Canada as well as the US and would expand its network and operations. The three major Canadian operators do not want to lose out on market share and have another fierce competitor in midsts. They also want the option to acquire smaller businesses like Wind.

“The “Big Three” incumbents want to have the opportunity to bid on Canada’s discount carriers, even though the government’s whole idea for competition is that a fourth major carrier exists in Canada’s wireless oligarchy – which would never happen if one of Rogers, Telus, or Bell acquired the startups.” The government promotes healthy competition and would prefer to have other companies participate in the race but Rogers, Telus and Bell have other plans.

Therefore, the three giants have teamed up against Verizon.“A campaign called Fair for Canada has been jointly launched by the Big Three, which includes a video, ads, links to supporting articles, and a letter written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by the boards of directors of all three telcos.” This is meant to give convincing arguments and evidence to the authorities to show that Verizon should not be allowed to acquire Wind Mobile as it would not, as a whole be beneficial for Canada and its business landscape.

One of the arguments from the bug three is that, “We fundamentally believe that Canadians would not want a foreign player such as Verizon to be given preferential treatment over Canada’s longstanding telecommunications carriers, they write, despite most evidence suggesting the exact opposite as Canadian consumers plead for outside competition.”

In the video for the campaign, different employees can be seen giving their opinion about Verizon acquiring Wind Mobile. Amanda, a call center trainer for Rogers says: “That’s not real competition,” “She’s speaking of the government allowing a fourth legitimate carrier into the market” However, it is seems to many that she is saying all this because of political reasons and to show support for her company.

“The Big Three talk primarily about taxpayer burdens and employment, but the average Canadian cares a lot more about lowering their $100 phone bill than whether Verizon will hire Canadians for its call centres.” Many of their arguments can be said to be myopic because it reflects their views and not what would truly be beneficial for Canadians.

Source: TechVibes