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“Globalive does not meet Canadian ownership rules”
The CRTC just sent out a press release about Globalive foreign ownership and stated “Globalive does not meet Canadian ownership rules”. We caught up with Tony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive tonight… check out the phone interview (make sure your volume is turned up though).
“The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission today determined that Globalive Wireless Management (Globalive) does not meet the Canadian ownership requirements set out in the Telecommunications Act. Under the legislation, a telecommunications company is only eligible to operate in Canada if it is not at any time owned and controlled, in law and in fact, by non-Canadians.
During its proceeding, the Commission examined the influence of Orascom Telecom Holding (Orascom) over Globalive’s business decisions and day-to-day operations. Despite the fact that Globalive made significant structural changes to reduce its dependence on Orascom, there were other factors that, taken together, led the Commission to conclude that Globalive does not meet the statutory test.
The Commission found it particularly important that Orascom owns 65.1 per cent of the equity, has entered into a strategic technical arrangement with Globalive, controls and holds the “Wind” brand under which Globalive will operate, and holds the overwhelming majority of the outstanding debt.
Globalive is a new company seeking to enter the Canadian wireless market. The Commission focused on the set up and operations of Globalive in the context of a company rolling out a national wireless network. In its decision, the Commission identified the areas that need to be addressed in order for Globalive to meet the Telecommunications Act’s Canadian ownership requirements.”
On the Wind Mobile website they have responded by writing a post titled “A Bad Day for Canadians and Wireless Competition in Canada” and it states “WIND Mobile will be delayed in becoming Canada’s newest competitive wireless operator…In its decision, the CRTC came to a different conclusion than Industry Canada and has indicated that Globalive Wireless is not in compliance with the Canadian ownership and control requirements set out in the Telecommunications Act.
Anthony Lacavera, Chairman, Globalive Wireless Management Corp. said “Having already received approval from Industry Canada, we are extremely disappointed that the CRTC has come to a different conclusion. This is a bad day for Canadian consumers. Canadians deserve competition in wireless and this decision represents a major step backwards.”
Ken Campbell, CEO of WIND Mobile stated “WIND Mobile had planned to launch in the coming weeks. We have pulled together an excellent team of more than 500 people and had built a strong network and operation across the country. We are ready to bring competition to the market. We will be evaluating our options on how to proceed.”
How do you feel about this news?
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This is the correct application of the law by CRTC.
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If it’s so clear cut then why did it take the CRTC so long to decide?
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Upon further inspection – seems the CRTC did make a mistake. My bad.
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Took them so long because (a) the ownership structure of the company is vastly complex, involving numerous offshore holding companies, (b) because the voting structure on the Board was complex and has to be carefully examined to determine where the accumulation of influence actually lies, and (c) because there were literally thousands and thousands of pages of testimony and documents to examine.
Sheesh.
Even an “open and shut” criminal trial takes months.
In fact, their hearing was in Sept, the decision late Oct. That’s fast by government standards.
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Globalive spectrum needs to be forfeited.
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This is wrong! Us canadians really need the change that Wind was bringing, and we are sad that CRTC has ruled against it. This kind of clause is archaic, and a throwback to old times, showing the closed mindedness of the Canadian telco industry. In a ‘free’ market, all players are welcome! Shame…
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Why would it need to be forfeited? This isn’t a “drop dead” decision. They still have the opportunity to make changes to meet the ownership requirements, or to appeal the decision to cabinet.
If they do appeal it, the CRTC decision will have to show that there were significant differences between the facts presented to them and what was presented to Industry Canada when they approved the ownership structure before the spectrum auction for it to not be overturned, since Industry Canada “outranks” the CRTC.
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That’s correct. Globalive still holds their spectrum licence, as does Shaw, for example, even though Shaw has said it has no intention of using it any time soon.
Globalive has until 2014 before the “use it or lose it” clause of their spectrum licence kicks in.
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By 2014, can Globalive then sell it for a profit as spectrum is a scarce commodity. Canadian will end up paying for Orasam’s profit.
If this is the case, it is a calculated risk for Orasam. Their main objective is to flip spectrum and if there is a wireless company come with it, it is a bonus.
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JD, apology. I misread your post.
If there is a clause of “use it or lose it”, then Globalive won’t be able to flip the spectrum for a profit.
I thought I read somewhere else that the spectrum holder can’t resell until after 2014.
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I stand corrected. Just looked up the the terms of the AWS spectrum licences: they can’t flip it to an incumbent, and it’s a 10 year licence, so they have that long (2018) to use it or lose it.
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Welcome to FASCISM Canada!! The Goverment and corporations are one in the same. What a joke. Who cares about competition, who cares about the rights of the consumer, the rights of Rogers and Bell are much more important.
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The CRTC is made up of a panel of stupid trash. This was our chance at real competition in the wireless industry and now it’s dashed. Rogers, Bell and Telus need to be brought to their knees. Canadians pay some of the highest wireless fees in the world. It’s absolutely outrageous!
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Forgive my 2 drunken posts above… Globalive needs to appeal this decision ASAP!
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How dare you using my name and impersonate me!! Coward.
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Sorry for my schizo personality. Too much caffience today!
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the law is archaic and needs to be changed beavertail. it only fosters protectionism, and keeps the big three in charge of an oligopoly. no new entrant can afford the price to cover canada with a national network since there is not enough money to do so (how many canadian billionaires do you know of that would fund it?) and if this doesn’t further prove that the CRTC is bought and paid for by rogers bell and telus then i don’t know what will. it needs to go.
How you ever figured out that the law as written is not always right? After all, these are not “God’s laws”, they are Man’s.
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I am not saying the law is right. I agree it is made by man and can be changed. May be it should be changed. But as it stands, law needs to be respected.
CRTC’s mandate is to apply the existing law.
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Pathetic.
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This doesnt surprise me, CRTC always sides with the major corporations. I really wish they would just get shut down the CRTC.
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ah, well i forgive you beavertail.
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oh i see what happened. then i take that back.
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NO! We need to get some competition going on in the mobile market. Or else the CRTC needs to restrict how much companies can charge for mobile services.
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Can someone explain to me why foreign ownership is a bad thing? That’s foreign money being spent in Canada providing a service and jobs to Canadians. Yes much of the profit will go back overseas, but why can’t Rogers and Telus try to set up shop in others countries and bring those profits back to Canada?
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It’s not the money coming in its the money leaving that is the concern. Foreign ownership would funnel revenue out of Canada to line the pockets of the mother company. This would hurt the Canadian companies as they don’t have the economies of scale to compete fairly.
Also many foreign owned companies would look at outsourcing any jobs they could to interests they control outside of Canada to help improve profit margin’s.
This sounds like protectionism but it’s important. Each countries economy has to live somewhat in a self contained ecosystem.
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Well, Canadian companies could outsource jobs to other countries just as easily
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“In related news, Bell, Rogers and Telus, announced today a new FTC (Fight the Competition Fee) fee of $19.95/month that the companies said will help Canadian investors. CWTA President and CEO Bernard Lord said that the fact that all three companies announced the new fee the same day is not a sign of collusion but a mere coincidence.”
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Nice, I know I should have bought BELL/Telus Shares
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That sucks.
If the CRTC learned some basic economics then they would figure out that while they big3 would lose some money (profit), the consumers are saving money and would spend that money on other things. Also with cheaper mobile rates, it helps businesses save money and spend it elsewhere.
Wireless in Canada can be cheaper but the CRTC sets up these stupid rules to prevent competition which hurts consumers in the end.
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They aren’t “CRTC rules” – foreign ownership is a tenet of the Telecommunications Act. They are “Parliament’s rules” if you want to look at it that way.
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By mail
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1A 0N2
Let’s all write them a letter and let them know how we feel about our current situation and how frustrated we are.
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Don’t forget to mention the fact that Bell has a huge call center in India (I don’t have exact numbers), and that Telus has over 1000 employees in the Philippines (with an expansion coming that will boost that number to 2000) working in a call center as well as people in India working tech support.
So according to the CRTC it’s wrong for a few people to get rich in another country but it’s okay for thousands and thousands of Canadians to have their jobs exported to other countries?
This is the Bullshit that our Government is shelling out and I won’t stand for it any longer.
Go here http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/
And here to find your local MP http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
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I am sick of the BIG 3. I was really looking forward to wind coming! this will probaly delay them another 6 months to 1 year anyway now. Now we have to wait for DAVE!
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Can’t they just restructure and continue?
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They can try. The question is if they can successfully restructure enough to meet the rules. After all, this whole mess was supposedly because they couldn’t find enough Canadian funding.
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I would agree with the CRTC’s decision. I listened to every hour of the hearings, and Globalive AKA Wind Mobile definitely needed to further restructure themselves.
Is it fair that the majority of profit goes overseas and the debt the company has is paid for by Canadians? I don’t think so.
I want some strong competition, but not if the playing ground isn’t fair.
I hope Wind can do a quick restructure and launch soon.
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This decision as with the ones about UBB and Throttling of internet just strengthen the fact that the crtc is a bunch of morons who work for the incumbents.
http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/
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Foreign ownership is an important protection for all canadians as we want our job, headquarters and profit to stay in our economy, Globalive was promising but they may have just been thefts if all players follow the rules so should they
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You are dreaming. Just have a look at BIG Banks like BIG telcos, jobs are outsourced to India and China. workers are imported for short assignments and Canadians are let go. WAKE UP….
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Bell and Rogers have large call centers overseas! Lots of telco design work is outsourced to India. All the “good” “Canadian” companies are hugely participating the global economy and shifting as much as they can to the far east, India, and the Philippines. They also have very connected with both the government and the CRTC. Welcome to the status quo.
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One word: COMMUNISM !!!
Booooooo, stupid thieves and corupt CRTC !
How long will the appeal take until they punch down these fvckin’ morons?
I hope Globalive will find enough support in any shape or form and win this battle.
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Yeah, level playing fields suck, don’t they?
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It shows poorly for the Canandian government that one branch, industry canada approved of the corperate structure and the crtc disapproves.
i believe the crtc. is making it,s self less relevant with every misguided disision it makes.
What a slap in the face to the Canadian people and the federal government who wants to get this oligarcy in place now broken up.
good day for fat telacoms.
Bad day for Canadians
good job crtc.
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Complain about the CRTC to your local Member of Parliament.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
It’s a start to getting your voice heard.
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This is not the fault of the CRTC. As much as I’d like to blame them I can’t. I’m one of the people who was just waiting for Wind to launch and I’d be right there to buy a phone from them. But they knew the regulations and yet they flaunted the fact that they thought the CRTC would find in their favour.
If the CRTC ignored the regulation for Wind then bell / rogers / telus could also ignore the regulation.
From this point the best thing to do is watch and see what Wind does and hope Dave can get some momentum in building things out.
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This is not the fault of the CRTC. As much as I’d like to blame them I can’t. I’m one of the people who was just waiting for Wind to launch and I’d be right there to buy a phone from them. But they knew the regulations and yet they flaunted the fact that they thought the CRTC would find in their favour.
If the CRTC ignored the regulation for Wind then bell / rogers / telus could also ignore the regulation.
From this point the best thing to do is watch and see what Wind does and hope Dave / Public can fill the gap.
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And if Bell, Telus, or Rogers ignored the regulations how exactly would it hurt Canadians. And I don’t give a damn about the big wigs that take home huge pay checks and bonuses every year. Would it mean that Telus would outsource jobs to, say, the Philippines or India? Oh wait they already do that and as time goes on more jobs Canada if it means the people at the top get richer.
http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/
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Oh Scott,
If only things were that simple.
Telus owns a call center in the philippines, yes that’s true. But are calls for telus mobility support handled there? I’ve never seen the proof. Telus has call centres in calgary, edmonton and barie from what I’ve been able to see.
Bell has call centres in quebec, ontario and british columbia.
I didn’t look up rogers, I leave that to you.
At any rate these companies have canadian call centres. When you call telus, bell or rogers and you hear an indian voice on the other line, or a chinese voice, or whatever maybe you should quit fuming at jobs going over seas and look around at the demographics of this country. There are an awful lot of people representing all corners of the globe (FYI a globe has precicely 17 corners)
I used to work in a call center in Ottawa when I was a poor student. I’d say that 60-70% of the people working there were imigrants. And you want to know why? It’s a horrible job with terrible hours for mediocre pay and no job satisfaction.
Most spoiled youth of today wouldn’t work in such an place because they are obviously entitled to much more. The people who work those jobs are people who have to work those jobs. uneducated single parents, students putting themselves through university/college, and the general uneducated who are smart enough to find something that pays more then minimum wage.
My call center was contracted to time warner, the one accross the river worked for Rogers and there was another in the area that did Bell. I can’t tell you how many calls I would get where people would priase the powers that be that they were able to speak to a Canadian (somehow my accent gives it away) rather than an Indian. Even though at that time (I have no idea how it is now) there were no call centres outside of north america serving time warner customers.
Now I’ve gone on quite a rant here without talking about the ramifications of opening up the market to foreign ownership.
There are 2 general ways that things can move when foreign companies can come in.
So maybe new companies come in to the market, maybe they just gobble up the existing ones.
Money that was traveling to rich canadians starts flowing to rich americans or egyptions or wherever. And that money goes to funding expansion of the parent organization. Where is the parent going to expand? Probably not in Canada. we’re a small market. That money goes elsewhere.
Now I’m all for disolving the crtc, or better yet changing it’s focus and I’m perfectly fine with foreign competition coming in. But don’t stand up and tell me jobs are gone already without proof.
You want to tear down the regulations because you think some company will come in and be your saviour but they all just want your money and they’ll short change you. No matter what market you look at people complain about their phone providers. Just as some don’t. And here in Canada there are plenty that love their provider of choice. Personally I’ve been royaly screwed by bell and telus and rogers coverage doesn’t meet my needs. So I wait for someone new.
Don’t rant and rave against the CRTC for doing their jobs. They have to apply the rule of law in these decisions and cannot change the laws as they are.
If anyone is to blame here it’s either:
1. industry canada for letting globalive buy spectrum when they did not meet requirements.
2. Globalive for knowingly not conforming to canadian law and brazenly saying they were sure they would be allowed to play anyway.
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^^ On point.
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Like it or hate it, that was the right call by the CRTC. I’m not defending the law, but as it stands, this is the correct application of the current legislation and the ownership of WIND was obviously not canadian enough.
The culprit here is WIND who obviously did a halfass job of understanding the telecoms regulations before investing big money. shame on them.
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The CRTC is just enforcing the laws. The other 3 companies have to follow the rules or be shut down. There is no reason for an outside company to care about Canada. As long as the profits roll in and out of Canada great. As soon as things slow down, they bail, leaving debt and unemployment. Canadian companies love profit just as much, but they have to make it in Canada or they are done. They can’t bail and run back to Europe.
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“The CRTC is just enforcing the laws. The other 3 companies have to follow the rules or be shut down.”
I wish. The problem is that the other cellcos pick and choose the laws they follow, and get away with murder.
They’ve been ripping us off with 911 fees ($150 million/year) for many years, not to mention the SAF they said for many years was going to Ottawa, etc. I have zero respect for the big three.
P. J. O’Rourke:
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
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I whole-heartedly agree with the CRTC, I don’t think that this ruling could be any clearer. There are laws on Canada that need to be followed. If you don’t want to play by the rules then you don’t get to play the game, simple as that.
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HAHAHHAH…..and u didn’t see this one comming?
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It’s a shame that a “foreign owned” company that has created hundreds to thousands of jobs in Canada is not permitted to operate, yet Canadian owned companies that outsource a majority of jobs outside of Canada can continue to operate.
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I think people’s reactions speak to how frustrated we are with the current system…
They just want to save money on their bills – even if it means a loss to Canada’s economy.
If that’s not viewed as a screaming voice to the current incumbents – I don’t know what is.
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Joesph –
Canadian Telcos do not outsource “…a majority of jobs outside of Canada…”
Telus, for example, has over 30,000 employees and less than 1000 are located overseas. Get your facts straight – that 29,000 Canadian jobs….
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I hope they can restructure soon and get up and running. Seems like merging with Dave wireless or Manitoba Tel would solve the issue of foreign ownership. Lets hope these guys can put together a deal and get this over turned.
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I agree, wind mobile has done a great job of iliciting public response but it hasn’t done a good enough job to comply to the rules that the industry goes by. Foreign ownership issues have to be dealt with by our federal government. Not the Crtc. They applied the ruling correctly on this matter. The people getting riled up have to realize that the other new entrants are not getting hassled by the big 3 for these reasons. Competition will still exist. And that wind mobile is not out of the picture they can still restructure. Allowing wind to operate in Canada as they are now would set a precedent for allowing more foreign ownership which the crtc has no power to do. If laws have to change then so be it, but let the government decide.
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G&M:
“Sources in Ottawa suggest the company may now appeal directly to the Harper government, which has pushed for more competition in the wireless industry by allowing new companies to bid for licences. Cabinet has the power to overturn or alter the CRTC’s decision if it wants”
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Ah so it’s proof you want, fair enough.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/10/17/stories/2006101701390400.htm
And how do I know that I’m dealing with someone who’s in another country? I don’t judge based on accent (And I don’t appreciate your comment that makes me look like a racist by the way) I ask politely “So where are you talking to me from” or something along those lines. I like to “chit chat” with CS reps as it makes the experience less tense (I have a good idea the crap they deal with).
Now onto Telus, although I do not have physical proof I work “side by side” with Telus employees in three of the most profitable Telus sites in Alberta (The top site does a million dollars a minute). Over the past 7 years multiple call centers were setup initially, we’ll say the first 2 years of my time with them. Since that time more and more jobs have disappeared. And when I ask the numerous employees who are lucky enough to still have a job I am told that their jobs have been outsourced. I know they have a call center that handles mobility in The Philippines from speaking with someone who has been there.
And I should not have thrown Rogers into the heap about outsourcing jobs to other countries because as far as I can tell they do not. It’s to bad that their prices are the highest otherwise I would have signed with them (that is if I didn’t know that competition was coming)
How has Telus for example expanded lately that has benefited the average Canadian? Okay the upgrade to their current network is a great example. Now if Telus was owned by a company in another country would they do their upgrade for Canada in that other country? Not likely since the hardware would need to be in Canada. And if they choose not to upgrade at all they would fall behind and other carriers would take their spot.
Of course Globalive wants my money, they’re a business. How exactly are they going to short change me? By bringing innovation and cheaper prices to Canadians? If WIND launches and their prices are the same as everyone else they’re not going to make much of an impact.
If you know a lot of people that are happy with their current provider then you know a lot of ignorant people. Take a look around perhaps at the 17 corners of the globe and take note of the prices and level of service that is out there.
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Decision needs to be stomped on by the government. Get the competition in their first, then revisit the antiquated laws in use to block competition.
Customers need the benefit now, not later. This would be different if we were a country that was world leader in communications instead of a world leader in how to bleed the consumer dry by leveraging outdated laws in the incumbents favor.
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