Rogers CFO Tony Staffieri reiterated his belief that network sharing is not economically viable for Canada’s largest telecom service provider, at a recent Scotiabank media conference.
At the June 13th, 2018 Scotiabank Telecom, Media and Technology Conference, Staffieri said that Rogers simply doesn’t see the economics of network sharing “working out in our favour.”
“As we evolve into 5G, more and more, we think about us having our own network nationally as being a competitive advantage,” said Staffieri.
“It is a competitive advantage to own our network and not have to rely on another party for something that’s critical to wireless industry.”
Staffieri also spoke about potentially sharing a network with Freedom Mobile, adding that the company continues to view “network sharing as not good for Rogers at this time.”
In terms of Rogers’ sharing partnership with Quebec-based regional carrier Videotron, Staffieri said that both companies will “continue to evaluate it and make sure that it makes sense going forward.”
“The Videotron arrangement was struck many years ago — seven or eight years ago now, in a world of 3[G] and 3.5G that evolved to 4[G]” said Staffieri.
“As we evolve that arrangement to 5G, both of us, Rogers and Videotron, will look to what’s going to work for us economically on both sides of the partnership.”
Rogers and Videotron signed a 20-year agreement in May 2013 to expand LTE coverage in Quebec and Ottawa.
The terms of the agreement saw that Rogers and Videotron would share the costs of LTE expansion in the region, while maintaining business independence.
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