In December, Shaw Communications announced plans to purchase Wind Mobile for $1.6 billion CAD. The transaction is expected to close the first half of 2016, pending regulatory approval from both the Competition Bureau and Industry Canada.
Today, the Competition Bureau stated it will not challenge the proposed transaction because it “is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition because, among other reasons, the two companies do not currently compete against each other, as Shaw does not own wireless assets.”
According to the Bureau, “as a result of the proposed transaction, Shaw Communications will replace WIND Mobile as a competitor to the three national mobile wireless service providers, Bell, Rogers and Telus, in urban areas of southern and eastern Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.”
The Competition Bureau seems to echo words spoken last month by Brad Shaw, CEO of Shaw Communications, noting that it possibly makes sense to launch a unified Shaw Mobile brand. It’s unclear as to when or if the Wind Mobile brand will see a transition to Shaw.
Wind Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic will continue to oversee the wireless business and the executive team will also remain with Shaw. Krstajic said that “the combination of Shaw and WIND creates a wireless leader with immediate benefits for our customers and employees.”
Wind Mobile has over 940,000 wireless subscribers across Canada and plans to deploy its LTE network in later in 2016 or in early 2017.
Related: Everything you need to know about Shaw’s acquisition of Wind Mobile
[source] Competition Bureau [/source]
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