QUEBECOR PLANS ENTRY INTO WIRELESS MARKET.
TORONTO — The chief executive of Quebecor Inc. has thrown down the gauntlet to Canada’s dominant wireless companies, declaring that the Quebec-based communications conglomerate is ready to enter the battle to become the country’s fourth wireless player.
In a speech to industry leaders in Toronto, Pierre Dion said the company is prepared to make the necessary investment, including potentially acquiring one or both of the struggling independents, Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, to become the next contender — but only if the government takes steps to “level the playing field” by changing the rules around so-called roaming rights.
Quebecor “is uniquely positioned to very effectively address the Canadian government’s stated policy objective of a serious fourth competitor in the markets where this is lacking — a fourth competitor who is experienced, well-financed, well-equipped, highly entrepreneurial and customerfocused,” Dion said.
“Under the right conditions, we are ready, willing and able to become Canada’s fourth wireless competitor.”
The speech, frequently punctuated with audience applause, comes less than three months after Quebecor’s controlling shareholder Pierre Karl Péladeau was elected to Quebec’s National Assembly as a member of the separatist Parti Québécois.
Quebecor is one of the province’s biggest and most successful companies, an operation with interests in newspapers, television, cable, wireless and broadband. It’s also got the kind of deep pockets and access to capital many would-be wireless entrants never had.
In a bid to deflect risk that Péladeau’s political career might hurt the company’s relations with policy-makers in Ottawa, he stepped down as chairman and is set to be replaced by former prime minister Brian Mulroney, a staunch federalist, at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.
Dion reiterated a frequent refrain among critics of Canada’s concentrated wireless industry, that Canadian consumers pay far too much and that the industry landscape has long benefited the dominant players: BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc.
“It is well-documented that most Canadian wireless consumers are paying high prices — much higher than those available in Europe and Australia,” he said.
For years the federal government has sought to help give consumers a better deal by introducing new policies to make it easier for a viable fourth national provider to emerge, but with limited success. Of those that entered the market since 2008 only two remain, and both are facing financial challenges, with Mobilicity in creditor protection and Wind looking for a new investor.
Dion said the central challenge for newcomers is that they are hobbled in their ability to compete by issues like excessive roaming rates charged by the incumbents that make it difficult to provide national service.
The solution, he said, is “to insist on a level playing field, one on which consumers are not penalized by unjust inter-carrier charges.”
The question now is whether Ottawa will welcome the Quebecor proposal, given Péladeau’s political affiliations and the possibility he will become the next leader of the Parti Québécois.
Analysts say that in order to move ahead with its plan, Quebecor needs the government’s blessing to acquire Wind or Mobilicity.
A spokesman for Industry Minister James Moore declined to comment.