Clement to appeal Federal Court Ruling on Globalive “we will vigorously defend it”

On December 11th, 2009 Industry Minister Tony Clement said WIND Mobile “is a Canadian company that meets Canadian ownership and control requirements…Our goal has always been greater competition in the telecommunications industry, which leads to lower prices, better service and more choice for consumers and business”. However, this all came crashing down when a couple weeks back when Justice Roger Hughes of the Federal Court stated the Clement decision to let Globalive operate their Wind Mobile brand “was based on errors of law and must be quashed”.

Today, Tony Clement and MP Steven Blaney have issued a statement and decided to appeal the Federal Court ruling on Globalive:

“On Friday, February 4, 2011, the Federal Court overturned the Governor-in-Council’s 2009 decision to vary the CRTC’s determination regarding Globalive, which allowed the company to launch its Wind Mobile wireless brand in the Canadian marketplace… Today, I would like to confirm that the Harper Government will be appealing the Court’s ruling. We believe that our decision was the right one for Canadian consumers and we will vigorously defend it. Globalive is a Canadian company and meets the Canadian ownership and control requirements under the Telecommunications Act. Globalive should therefore be able to continue to offer service in the wireless telecommunications market… The policy of our government is to encourage choice and competition in wireless and Internet markets. Ours was the government that set aside spectrum during the 2008 auction to allow new entrants to compete. New entrants mean more competition, lower prices and better quality services for Canadians.”

Sounds like this will drag on for a long time. Thoughts?

Source: MarketWire