Rogers, Bell and Telus Are Trying to Keep Verizon Out of Canada

Rogers, Bell, and Telus are calling for the government to change regulations that would allow Verizon to enter the Canadian market at a lower cost.

George Cope, President and CEO of Bell Canada has penned an open letter complaining that as a new entrant Verizon would be able to:
● Buy twice as much of Canada’s airwaves as Canadian companies like Bell can in an upcoming auction of wireless spectrum
● Piggyback on the networks of Canadian carriers wherever they don’t want to invest and build their own.
● Acquire smaller Canadian competitors – but Bell and other Canadian wireless companies can’t even try.

Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed says, “What we’re absolutely against is a tilted or stacked playing field where you have a massive incumbent U.S. carrier that would be given favourable treatment and frankly better treatment than Canadian incumbents.”


Of course, these measures have been implemented as an attempt to introduce competition into the Canadian market. Rogers, Bell, and Telus have all been price gouging Canadian customers for years and using their combined force to crush any rivals. A 2009 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that Canada has the third-highest wireless rates among developed countries. A 2011 study found that Canada has the highest fees for international data roaming among the 34 countries looked at by the OECD. Canada is also the only OECD country to require three-year contracts.

One can only hope that these 'loopholes' help put an end to Bell, Telus, and Rogers' oligarchy.