Thursday, October 29, 2009

One Less Competitor

Our beloved CRTC is in the news yet again, this time for blocking one of the new wireless competitors, Globalive, from entering the Canadian market, because of the foreign ownership rules for telecommunications companies. Considering that Industry Canada accepted Globalive's bid during the spectrum auction, the ownership question must have been settled before that.

Naturally, the incumbents complained and the CRTC agreed with them, which looks like a classic example of government department's not following the same playbook. Industry Canada wants more competition while the CRTC is following the letter of the law.

The incumbents have had a strangle hold on the Canadian telecommunications market for far too long. The only way to shake things up is to change the rules. If means that means allowing more foreign ownership so be it. I'm sure that later there will consequences for loosening the rules, but we need the competition so badly in this country.

I wonder if Globalalive can get a refund for the spectrum they bought but now cannot use? No doubt their lawyers are already salivating at the fees they will earn from this debacle.

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