Rogers buys Shaw, dotmobile gets MVNO licence. Is Canada’s regulator in for a rough ride?
It’s rare to see any market movement in Canada but in the last two months there have been two very significant announcements. At the start of the year dotmobile was awarded a full MVNO licence, after first proposing the idea back in 2019, and this month Rogers Communications announced it’s to acquire Shaw Communications for $26billion. As extraordinary as it might sound, dotmobile’s MVNO is a first of its kind in Canada. As an outsider I really welcome the move by the regulator. It’s a glimmer of hope that the market, dominated by the Big 3 (Telus, Rogers and Bell), might open up to healthier competition. How so? Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Georgia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have all recently granted MVNO licences. They join the more established markets of the UK, Europe and USA in recognising that it’s a way to diversify and build competition. (more…)
