CanadaB次元官网网址檚 regional wireless and internet carriers will benefit the most from this weekB次元官网网址檚 landmark regulatory ruling by the CRTC, telecommunications analysts and consumer advocates say.
Financial analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets say QuebecorB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址tron and Cogeco Communications will likely have more room to grow, given the CRTCB次元官网网址檚 new restrictions on BCEB次元官网网址檚 Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp.
But the analysts also say the three big national wireless carriers will likely be able to manage the new CRTC rules.
B次元官网网址淲e view this decision as B次元官网网址榗onstructive-enoughB次元官网网址� and manageable for national operators while at the same time B次元官网网址榚xtending a helping handB次元官网网址� to existing regional wireless operators,B次元官网网址� RBC analyst Drew McReynolds wrote in an report for clients.
However, one of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 most outspoken consumer advocacy groups, OpenMedia, criticized the CRTC on Thursday for putting too much emphasis on the regional carriers, doing too little to limit the market power of the Big Three and doing very little to help new entrants to the wireless markets.
OpenMedia executive director Laura Tribe said the CRTC had missed a chance to stimulate competition from smaller players.
B次元官网网址淚t really doubles down on the idea that a regional provider will be sufficient to correct the extreme market share that Bell, Telus and Rogers have,B次元官网网址� Tribe said in an interview.
Tribe has told numerous government and regulatory hearings that CanadaB次元官网网址檚 three biggest telecommunications companies B次元官网网址� which collectively have more than 90 per cent of the countryB次元官网网址檚 subscriber base B次元官网网址� are too big and consumers have too few choices
The financial analysts took a more favourable view of the CRTC decision, noting that B次元官网网址tron will have more options to strengthen its base in Quebec or buy assets in other provinces and Cogeco may be able to advance its strategic goal of adding wireless to its internet and cable TV networks.
B次元官网网址淭he CRTCB次元官网网址檚 decision essentially means that B次元官网网址榚ligibleB次元官网网址� regional wireless carriers would be able to use incumbent networks to offer services until they build out their networks,B次元官网网址� wrote Aravinda Galappatthige in a report from Canaccord Genuity.
Galappatthige said the decision is very favourable to regional wireless carriers.
B次元官网网址淚t does open the door for QBR (Quebecor) to extend beyond Quebec with wireless services whether they choose to do so in a limited fashion (i.e. parts of Ontario) or pick up the mantle as the fourth quasi-national player,B次元官网网址� Galappatthige wrote.
CanadaB次元官网网址檚 current B次元官网网址渇ourth quasi-national playerB次元官网网址� is the former Wind Mobile, which has about two million subscribers in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. About half of them were added after the formerly independent company was bought in 2016 by Shaw Communications Inc. and renamed Freedom Mobile.
Most observers, including the CRTC, say the future for Shaw and Freedom is more difficult to predict because of a proposed takeover by Rogers, which has the largest base of subscribers and a network that spans most of the country. The Rogers-Shaw deal is subject to three federal approvals, including the CRTC and the Competition Bureau.
Quebecor chief executive Pierre Karl Peladeau told a committee of MPs, who are studying the Rogers-Shaw deal, that B次元官网网址tron had originally wanted to become a national wireless carrier, but it sold its licences outside Quebec after scaling back its ambitions due to the enormous expense of building a new network.
David Paddon, The Canadian Press
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