Verizon Will Not Enter Canadian Market: CEO Lowell McAdam

By: Zain Nabi  |   September 3rd, 2013   |   News, O Canada

Verizon Communication Inc Chief Executive Lowell McAdam in his recent interview with Bloomberg has confirmed that Verizon Communication, the U.S. largest mobile operator, does not have any interest to enter the Canadian wireless market.

 

“Verizon is not going to Canada,” the story quoted McAdam as saying, adding that speculation about its possible entry was “way overblown”. McAdam said in the interview that his company has limited interest in the Canadian market before the deal and now it seems that Verizon has no interest in that market at all.

 

He made the above comments following the announcement that Verizon will soon buy the 45% stake of Vodafone in Verizon wireless, which is the third largest deal of corporate takeover in history. The share price of three biggest telecom companies of Canada – BCE Inc, Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp – toppled in June after the news that Verizon was soon looking to enter the Canadian wireless market by buying one or more country’s wireless startups.

 

But later the share prices gained stability on the news of the deal between Verizon and Vodafone, which many market analysts believed would delay an entry of Verizon into the Canadian wireless market. Verizon’s entry will not be good news for three established Canadian players. It has set a war between the three biggest telecom companies of Canada. They after the news have launched a public relations campaign gaining support in their favour.

 

“This has never been about Verizon coming into Canada, or not, it’s always been about fair access to spectrum,” said Telus executive vice-president Josh Blair. “Spectrum is the lifeblood of our industry, and without fair access to it, that’s going to potentially, permanently disadvantage Canadian companies,” he said.

 

The government stated that the consumers can get a lot of benefit by the entry of Verizon through increased competition. A spokeswoman for Industry Minister James Moore said, “Verizon’s decision not to enter Canada won’t change the way the spectrum auction is conducted.”