LACAVERA VS. XPLORNET FOR CONTROL OF FREEDOM MOBILE AS ‘FOURTH CARRIER.’

Daily Hive blog in which he essentially said that federal Innovation Minister François-philippe Champagne should ensure that Rogers is somehow forced to sell Freedom Mobile, preferably to Lacavera and his company, Globalive. “Minister Champagne has an opportunity to bring your mobile prices down. Canadians are counting on him to take advantage of this opportunity.”

The opportunity, said Lacavera in what is clearly a sales pitch on behalf of Globalive, is to “permanently solve our decades-old mobile competition problem.” Canada, he said, needs a “mobile carrier that doesn’t have current or historical ties to the Big Three carriers — no cosy personal relationships, employment history or closed-door, back-room deals the benefit everyone — but the consumer.”

In this drama series, Lacavera is a powerful character and a bold personality in an industry filled with bland back-room corporate types. But just before he made his Daily Hive pitch for government favour, another company appeared to have some kind of inside track. The Globe and Mail reported that Rogers “has presented the federal government with a deal that would see rural internet provider Xplornet Communications Inc. acquire wireless carrier Freedom Mobile in an attempt to win approval for Rogers’ $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc.”

Oh oh. Xplornet is based in Woodstock, N.B., and is owned by U.S. investment firms, which would be OK because Xplornet would have less than 10 per cent of the cellphone market. Canada wants competition, but usually not foreign competition.

And then — and then — as if to confirm the Globe story, on Wednesday (just before Lacavera’s blog post appeared) the CEO of Rogers was asked about the Xplornet story, and he said: “There’s not a lot we can say, given the transaction is in front of the government bodies.” Does this mean the Xplornet transaction is done and sitting on the desk of Industry Minister Champagne?

Remember that last month Champagne issued a statement saying that the federal government would not allow Rogers to hold on to Freedom Mobile. In the eyes of the activists who follow the wireless issue, it’s apparently like a dream. “It’s a good sign in the sense that the government is — at least in theory — keeping the dream of four wireless options alive in Canada,” said John Lawford, executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, one of a number of groups constantly pressuring Ottawa to force a fourth wireless carrier on the market. Others include Openmedia, the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

But what’s next? Will the meddlesome Champagne approve the Rogers Xplornet deal? Will Lacavera move in with a counteroffer to trump Xplornet? How many concessions will Ottawa extract?

And on it goes. The name of the series is: The Fourth Player. Almost two decades running, but still wireless prices are reportedly high. Could it be, and this question must be asked, that the pursuit of The Fourth Player and other regulatory interventions, including a ban on foreign competitors, is the reason wireless prices are high? Stay tuned, but it could be a very long run.