By Ahmad Hathout
COGECO CEO PHILIPPE JETTÉ (above) said today his company has been in “constant conversation” with Canada’s telecom regulator about when the industry can get the terms and conditions required for establishing a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), and is expecting something in ‘late spring, early summer.’
In April last year, the CRTC decided regional telecoms can force negotiations with the big three national telecoms for access to their mobile wireless networks, thereby allowing these smaller entities to establish services beyond their existing territory – so long as they have spectrum and infrastructure in the target area.
But the regulator has yet to put into place the rules and guidance by which such MVNOs can be established. Telecoms were given three months from the April decision to submit tariffs proposing terms and conditions for the regulator to deliver a verdict. (Rates are to be commercially negotiated rather than being set by the CRTC.)
“It’s been months,” Jetté told Scotiabank telecom analyst Jeff Fan at the bank’s telecom, media and technology conference this morning. “We are in constant conversation with them [CRTC]… I would have liked today to comment on the terms and conditions of their new MVNO framework regime, but I can’t because they have not released it.”
Jetté said the company is expecting the framework to be released in the “late spring, early summer timeframe,” adding he hopes it could come sooner.
A CRTC spokesperson told Cartt.ca that the Commission does not have a timeline for a framework that can be shared yet, but said the CRTC has had to address several procedural requests from some telecoms in the interim. In February, the commission declined to force the disclosure of template agreements from the national carriers for public comment before the tariffs they submitted are finalized. It noted that this would have caused delays in the process and has closed the proceedings.
Montreal-based Cogeco is the only publicly traded telecom in Canada without a wireless business, and for years the company has alluded to a possible entry through an MVNO model if it makes regulatory and financial sense.
“Politicians and the regulatory framework are creating what it really takes for more and more competition to take place and it is working,” Jetté told Fan, crediting the change in the environment from years ago, when he said no such hope for mobile wireless competition with the larger national carriers was on the horizon. “The problem is it’s super slow,” he added.
“We are expecting this framework to be meaningful in supporting competition,” he said. “Add to this what [Innovation Canada] is doing supporting spectrum being available to auction, set-aside process and everything, to stimulate and better equip the new players in wireless that also want to participate, want to build infrastructure.
“We are still… working for those terms and conditions, but very optimistic. I think competition will grow in Canada and it’s for the benefit of all Canadians.”
Rogers’ proposed acquisition of fourth carrier Shaw Communications has raised questions about whether regulators will force the divestiture of Shaw’s mobile wireless assets, operating under the brand Freedom. Last week, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he would “simply not permit” Rogers consolidating Freedom under its brand.
Quebecor has said it would be interested in buying the wireless assets if the feds forced a sale to approve the deal, and the Montreal-based company is willing to branch out to western Canada and build a wireless business out there.
Meanwhile, Telus is in court challenging a decision by Innovation Canada to award the company mobile wireless licenses in western Canada, arguing Quebecor does not have adequate infrastructure in that territory as defined by the department.
When asked about possibly setting up a wireless business outside of its Quebec and Ontario footprint, Jetté was unequivocal. “All the companies that tried to set up a mobile-only operation failed – all of them,” he said, alluding to Freedom’s predecessor, Wind Mobile.
“It’s very, extremely difficult to do when you have three [national carriers Bell, Rogers and Telus] doing everything they can to block competition,” Jetté said. “So, we believe that mobile can only be successful if you build it and leverage the fiber networks that a wireline operator has… and you need both to sustain the test of time, make this an economic and viable business.
“So that’s why I’ve been always talking about launching mobile operation over our existing wireline operation because you need the leverage of the wireline to make the wireless work, economically and to sustain the test of time.”
Image borrowed from Cogeco’s website.
