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Originally Posted by casper
Quote:
Originally Posted by roccerfeller
Is wind even in Manitoba though? If I understand CoryB's worry correctly, this would prevent a fourth player, such as Wind, from even entering Manitoba in the first place
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The issue is what the competition authorities say about they deal. Prior to approving the merger/takeover they may require Bell to divest of some spectrum to any third party that wants to buy in. The logical purchaser would be Shaw.
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The BCE deal, as currently proposed, includes the acquisition on all MTS owned wireless spectrum, including the spectrum specifically set aside for new entrants. Due to its status as a limited regional player MTS was allowed by Industry Canada to purchase the new entrant spectrum. BCE/Bell as an established provider with a national presence was not allowed to directly purchase that spectrum.
The wireless spectrum in Manitoba, on a high level is now entirely allocated and held by Rogers, Telus, MTS and Bell. After the sale there will be no wireless spectrum available for Wind or any other fourth carrier in Manitoba. This would mean they would need to either purchase spectrum or buy services through wholesale from Rogers, Telus or Bell.
Outside of the wireless side of the deal BCE's purchase of MTS would effectively maintain or improve on what is offered today, at least in the eyes of the regulatory approval reviews. People might want to talk about how the wired broadband data caps are unfair and anti-consumer but as no level of government has stepped in to stop that as an issue with Bell in other regions it is unlikely to be substantial enough justification to block this sale.
Ideally, Industry Canada, as part of their review of the wireless spectrum ownership transfer, will conditionally approve the deal on BCE transferring ownership to an approved new entrant or surrendering specific blocks of wireless spectrum to Industry Canada with no funds due to BCE in return.
From the Industry Canada review on competition, hopefully the feedback is that the 1/3 transfer of wireless subscribers as proposed by BCE is acceptable however instead of those subscribers being allocated to Telus they are to be transferred to an approved new entrant (aka Wind).
As part of the initial process Wind Mobile purchased spectrum rights in Manitoba. Eventually due to the challenges of starting up a wireless carrier from scratch they started running in financial issues. To offset their on-going operational costs they sold they spectrum in Manitoba to MTS with Industry Canada approval before ever starting operations here.