As federal lawmakers prepare to discuss whether to change or keep in place controversial “loopholes” that would allow a U.S. giant into Canada’s relatively cozy wireless market, it appears Canadians have already made their choice.
Let them in.
New survey results compiled by pollsters at Forum Research reveal that more than half, or 57 per cent, of Canadians “are in favour” of allowing U.S. mobile carriers to operate here. A third opposes the idea.
Even more – 68 per cent – believe the entry of Verizon Communications or another carrier entering the market to compete against Rogers, Bell and Telus would lead to lower prices, the survey found.
But that’s where the public’s warmth toward the potential entry of Verizon – which has expressed interest in coming to Canada in recent months – appears to end.
The survey, conducted via phone with 1,189 randomly selected Canadians 18 years or older, said most respondents (65 per cent) don’t agree that the U.S. operator should be allowed to use the networks of Canada’s Big Three while it builds out its own infrastructure.
Read more: Verizon coming to Canada? What you need to know
That condition, set up several years ago to aid smaller upstarts like Wind Mobile establish competitive alternatives to the incumbents, is one of three policy loopholes Bell, Rogers and Telus executives have been frantically urging Ottawa to “close” amid a summer-long PR blitz.
The other two enticements Ottawa is handing foreign firms like Verizon: preferential access to airwave spectrum in an auction early next year – radio airwaves particularly valuable for their ability to support mobile Internet; Verizon would also be permitted to acquire smaller Canadian providers in Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile.
Telus was blocked from buying Mobilicity earlier this year. At the time, federal officials justified the rejection in part on the grounds that it violated Ottawa’s policy to have at least four long-term providers in each market across the country.
The three incumbents argue Verizon doesn’t need the advantage.
New Industry Minister James Moore hasn’t wavered from pursuing the the strategy, launching the government’s own PR campaign that strongly signals to the carriers the ruling Conservatives’ intentions to keep the current policies in place.
Read more: Feds will ‘stay course’ on controversial wireless plan
With a date of Sept. 17 for companies to put down deposits on the auction – the deadline for a decisive move from Verizon if it’s planning to enter Canada – tensions are running high in Ottawa and beyond.
In a special committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, parliamentarians are scheduled to debate the auction structure.
Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed urged last week for Ottawa to abandon the current “flawed” plans in favour of lifting foreign-ownership restrictions on the sector altogether, a move that could well draw Verizon away from launching a competing service and instead make a bid for one of the major Canadian providers.
“If the end objective for government is to say ‘let’s open up the market,’ then we’d rather have it open than flawed in terms of the structure that is currently in place,” Mohamed told Bloomberg.
A report released Monday from the Fraser Institute, a right-leaning think tank, endorsed the idea.
Steven Globerman, the report’s author, said: “If the Canadian government is willing to rely upon market competition to maximize the consumer benefits of wireless telecommunications, it could do so immediately by lifting foreign investment restrictions.”
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