While reading The Globe and Mail Saturday morning, I came across a full page ad from the Coalition for Wireless Competition (spearheaded by Quebecor). Their mission is “to make the case to the authorities that new players must be allowed to enter Canada’s wireless telecommunications market in order to create a truly competitive environment and deliver the benefits of competition, in terms of both the availability and the pricing of telecom services, to Canadian consumers and businesses.”
Canada lags other countries when it comes to the state of wireless. Canadians pay significantly more than most other wireless costs (perhaps one reason the penetration rate for the country stands at 58 percent, much lower than the US, European and Asian countries) and enjoy far fewer mobile services. The Coalition for Wireless Competition lays the blame on weak competition and less capital investment than in other countries (eg 13 percent in Canada compared to 20 percent in the US).
The full page ad in the paper at this time is not a coincidence. There is an upcoming auction for additional public frequency bands and the conditions of the auction are currently being worked out. Is Quebecor getting ready to make a move to become a national wireless provider in Canada?