One of the Harper government's wishes is at last coming true, now that it is no longer in a position to boast about its fostering of greater competition in the Canadian wireless phone industry.
Shaw Communications Inc. is buying Wind Mobile Corp., subject of course to regulatory approval. That means there will be four national wireless carriers after all, backed by four big national telecom conglomerates, instead of just three. It's not an enormous difference, but more choice is better than less.
The three major incumbents are Telus Corp., BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc.
The Conservative government had set up convoluted auctions of new spectrum, explicitly skewed in order to favour a new, national carrier. The established carriers campaigned vigorously to be allowed to bid for the added spectrum without being hobbled, but to no avail.
But none of the would-be up-and-coming candidates for the hoped-for fourth carrier were able to take advantage of the preference offered by the government.
Mobilicity, for one, went into creditor protection, and later was acquired by Rogers. For a time, the outspoken Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris invested in the Canadian telecom industry, including Wind Mobile, but he was frustrated by undisclosed national security concerns on the part of the Canadian government – he speculated it might have had to do with his former interest in a mobile licence in North Korea. In any case, Mr. Sawiris swore that he would never invest in Canada again.
Wind Mobile Corp. struggled on. The Dutch telecom company VimpelCom took an interest, but two years ago it withdrew. And in any case, the government was unwilling to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of a major Canadian telecom.
Canada can handle at least four wireless carriers. Unfortunately, the move from three to four has come about without the country opening the door wide to new foreign competitors. Instead, the field has been restricted to reassuringly home-grown entities such as Shaw, a long-standing player in other parts of the communications and media business. Even so, the Canadian wireless market just got a little more competitive, thanks to the legacy of Stephen Harper and James Moore. Canadian consumers will be the winners.