TORONTO and CALGARY – With Industry Canada’s review of the CRTC decision on Globalive still on-going, it’s hurry up and wait for the potential new wireless entrant.
With nothing but time on its hands, the company has sent 400 of their newly trained employees out in Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area to commit ‘random acts of kindness’ such as distributing hand sanitizer and pumping gas, or helping with charities such as the Salvation Army and local food banks.
In the meantime, incumbent telcos and even Globalive itself have been busy compiling their submissions for Industry Minister Tony Clement to aid in the review process. All input was due Wednesday.
“What we can expect to see are a lot of the same old arguments presented to the Minister”, Globalive chair Anthony Lacavera told Cartt.ca. “We let the Minister know that we find the CRTC decision totally unacceptable. We feel that our structure is compliant and we’ve made the changes that the CRTC requested of us (during the ownership review).”
Meanwhile, Telus’ submission urged Minister Clement to “proceed with caution when considering the implications of the Globalive decision.”
"To ignore what is clear non-compliance after the fact is to send a signal to anyone interested in investing in our economy that the rules may or may not apply and can be changed without notice", said SVP of regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy, in a statement.
Telus said that it is not opposed to foreign ownership restrictions being lifted, but asked that all wireless carriers in Canada operate under the same rules “without an artificial and unfair advantage being handed to any one company by the government or the CRTC”.
Surprisingly, Lacavera said that Globalive isn’t asking Industry Canada to change Canada’s foreign ownership regulations, in fact, he supports them.
“I’m a big proponent and supporter of foreign ownership rules”, Lacavera said. “I don’t agree with the incumbents’ interpretation of them with respect to Globalive, and I certainly don’t agree with the CRTC’s interpretation of them, but those rules are important to protect Canadian heritage.”
A spokesperson for Industry Canada declined to confirm whether it was capable of overturning a CRTC decision or whether only Parliament had the power to do so.
"The CRTC put Globalive on notice a year ago that it must pass a foreign ownership test and offered to hold a review at that time”, Hennessy continued. “That Globalive chose not to seek such approval at that time is not the fault of Government. The Minister does not need to fix problems that are of Globalive’s own making. Globalive can add Canadian investors just like every other new entrant has already done."
Globalive said they have no plans to stop trying to enter the Canadian wireless marketplace, or to merge with another wireless player, despite a rumoured offer from Rogers.
“The bottom line is that I’m not interested in selling”, Lacavera added. “I’m happy to have the support of my investor (Orascom). I’ve got a ten year history of building telecom businesses in Canada and I intend to continue doing that. The incumbents better get ready for some real competition, because I’m coming.”
