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Government to clarify telecom foreign investment “in the coming weeks”

By on March 8, 2010 at 2:54pm in Asides, Mobile News, Various News

Here’s a bummer. Last week during the Throne Speech Governor General Michaëlle Jean stated “Our government will open Canada’s doors further to venture capital and to foreign investment in key sectors, including the satellite and telecommunications industries, giving Canadian firms access to the funds and expertise they need.”

Dreams were starting to come true of big wireless players coming into Canada and helping smaller players grow and expand faster. There was even some analysts talking about Bell and TELUS merging again. However, nothing yet has come forward specifically about telecommunications, it’s all been a focus on satellite.

The Globe has written a good piece called “The reality of Ottawa’s foreign ownership changes” and they quoted a regulatory source that said “What the government appears to have done is over-promised and under-delivered and that, I think, is the disappointment. They created such an expectation. And then when people got the budget, they said, ‘This is all there is?’ I would have expected more precision in something as significant as this.”

However there is a small glimmer of hope. Industry Minister Tony Clement’s press secretary, Lynn Meahan said “Our government will also be investigating the existing restrictions for the telecommunications industry. This is a complex issue involving changes to business models, rapidly evolving technology, and existing legislation, such as the 1993 Telecommunications Act.”

Meahan also stated the government will be offering clarity on timing “in the coming weeks”. But we all know that the “coming weeks” is similar to “coming soon” and still is completely vague.

More here at the Globe

Related posts:

  1. Government to open doors to wireless foreign investment
  2. TELUS asks CRTC to look into Globalive’s foreign investment
  3. Government driven Price Plan Calculator squashed due to “technical limitations”
  4. Rogers axes SAF for Government Regulatory Recovery Fee

Discussion

8 comments for “Government to clarify telecom foreign investment “in the coming weeks””

  1. In the coming weeks means that they’ll wait for when they are no longer in power, or when they can be sure that any bill about that will be cancelled following a prorogation, or whatever.

    They can’t stiffle the Telco businesses as they are the biggest recipients of the “Economic Action Plan” in the form of tax cuts…

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    Posted by Hub | March 8, 2010, 3:02 pm
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  2. Telus/Bell merging would be a way to stay competative,Rogers would no longer be #1.Shaw/Rogers should merge since Shaw wants into the cellphone market.

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    Posted by Larry | March 8, 2010, 3:47 pm
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  3. Well….. this is really no big surprise. Not only are we stuck (for the time being at least) with carriers that don’t really care about their customers, we’re also stuck with an ineffective gov’t that just wants to stick it’s head in the sand and hope that all the bad things in the world just go away….

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    Posted by phuzzykiller | March 8, 2010, 5:21 pm
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  4. “carriers that don’t really care about their customers”

    Someone says it in every thread…

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    Posted by Dave | March 8, 2010, 8:23 pm
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  5. well….. how would you have me rephrase that????? Any way you want to put it, it’s still a valid problem. Maybe, instead of complaining about what I said, provide something more insightful than the previous comment…..

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    Posted by phuzzykiller | March 9, 2010, 6:40 am
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  6. Hey Phuzzykiller, if it was up to you, I’m sure we’d all have 1$ a month plans, paid to some company from overseas. All I can say is I hope your phone works well when you’re waiting for food stamps, because if we don’t protect our own at all costs, one day there will be no jobs left for canadians.

    We all want change, but let’s keep it canadian please.

    BTW man up and stop crying.

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    Posted by Andrew | March 9, 2010, 9:59 am
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  7. No, I don’t want things like that to happen (a little over zealous on your point btw…) I totally agree with your point on keeping it Canadian. I would love to see another company come into play that was 100% Canadian. Unfortunately, right now there are very few choices out there when it comes to direct competition to companies like Bell & Rogers. If you can come up with any ideas on how to have lower carrier prices without some outside companies coming here, I’d love to hear it (in fact, I’m pretty sure that we’d all welcome it). Otherwise I guess you just like paying $80/mth for a basic phone plan that doesn’t even include data…..
    Anyways, enough already. Let’s hear responses to the story, not what my opinions are.

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    Posted by phuzzykiller | March 9, 2010, 10:58 am
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  8. ^^^^^ The protectionism is strong in this one.

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    Posted by CellNerd | March 9, 2010, 11:23 am
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