Rogers / Shaw merger and selling off of Freedom Mobile

[alt kilgore]

Not political, at least directly, and not religious, other than the worship of our phones .   Am I p'd at Rogers for allowing (or ordering) the new forum rules and so just happen to bring this issue up now?  Pure coincidence .  I was meaning to post this topic for weeks now. But does anyone remember Yak?  It came out of nowhere in 1998. I remember being amazed how you could circumvent the cost of your own carrier’s long distance charges by simply banging out a string of numbers first before the phone number. For free.

 

It was started by Anthony Lacavera.  The same Canadian entrepreneur that started Wind Mobile. His goal has always been to try and provide the cheapest alternative for Canadians for mobile phone charges. As far as I’m concerned he is a Canadian hero for the consumer.  I was a Wind customer when it came out.  It was half the cost of Telus or Rogers, Bell, any of the big boys. Drawback was the reception was only for the greater Metro Vancouver area, down to Abbotsford or so. And up to Whistler. With a reasonable charge for using a third party tower if you were outside that zone. It was good for me, as I hardly travel outside that area. And I could always use messages and emails via wifi in cafes if I was travelling. Or even WhatsApp later on to talk.

 

Anthony was forced to sell Wind to Shaw, against his will. Because his company,  Globalalive Capital, as a smaller one, did not have the capital to compete, and had to find money from outside the country, just to pay the legal costs of fighting the big companies, and that was a no no (foreign investment) imposed by the CRTC. So he lost it to Shaw. And they changed it to Freedom mobile. Which I still use. And still pay much less than the big carrier overlords. But that is in danger.

 

With the merger between Shaw and Rogers, They have to sell off Freedom. Which they announced recently would be to Quebecor.

 

The thing is, Lacavera wants to buy it back. And has for a long time been bidding for it. He contends that Rogers is purposely selling it to a company that promises NOT to compete with them. (ie, raise prices along with them) And to be open and willing to sell it back to them in future if that possibility opens up.

 

Lacavera is only interested in competing. And bringing the price down to the lowest possible for Canadian consumers. He would be a huge thorn in the side of Rogers going forward.

 

So even though his offer was $900 million more that Quebecor, they went with Quebecor, simply for that reason.  Also even though Lacavera has more tower rights, in partnership with Telus, than Quebecor has presently. And more experience in the mobile phone industry.

 

How does the CRTC get away approving this?  I don’t think it’s gone through yet. Canadians can still make their voices heard.

 

Here are some interviews I’ve found to educate yourselves about it. Some are a year old before Rogers announced it would sell to Quebecor.

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-08-2017-1.4475517/canada-can-t-settle-for-bronze-in-business-says-wind-mobile-founder-1.4477295

 

When Anthony Lacavera founded WIND Mobile, he says he had one main goal in mind: to push down wireless prices for Canadians by bringing more competition to the market.

 

He sold the company in 2015 for $1.6 billion, but considers that sale something of a failure — he'd been hoping to shake up Canada's telecommunications market at a much deeper level.and he says that his experience taught him that if Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs don't step up their innovation game across all sectors, we won't keep up with an ever changing world marketplace.

 

"I grossly underestimated how strong Bell, Telus and Rogers' grip on the political process and the market really is in this country," Lacavera, co-author of How We Can Win — And What Happens To Us And Our Country If We Don't, tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.

 

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/12/18/wind-founder-anthony-lacavera-buy-freedom-mobile/

 

“I think that would be good for the Canadian market if [Freedom] was restored to being an independent, pure play wireless company,” Lacavera told the Globe. Lacavera previously expressed disappointment over the proposed Rogers-Shaw deal, saying that “prices most definitely are going to go up.”

 

Should Freedom go up for sale and Lacavera succeed in his bid to acquire the carrier, he plans to make 5G accessible to all Canadians with innovative pricing. Additionally, Lacavera believes Canadian wireless rates should be 20 to 30 percent lower. Dynamic pricing could be one way Lacavera will do that — he explained that networks can be dynamic now and that it can switch customers between 5G and 4G depending on their needs. As such, pricing could change dynamically depending on what customers are doing on their phones.

 

https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/04/07/globalive-founder-publishes-open-letter-to-further-push-for-freedom-mobile/

 

Lacavera has been open about his quest to acquire the company he once founded. His latest move comes in an open letter he published Wednesday urging the federal government to ensure Freedom Mobile goes to a “truly independent alternative to the Big Three.”

François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, made it clear that Rogers must sell Freedom to create a fourth competitor for the Rogers-Shaw merger to be approved.

 

In an interview with MobileSyrup, Lacavera said the most important thing is for Freedom to run as “a true independent wireless operator.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-shaw-freedom-mobile-quebecor-1.6493541

 

Rogers Communications says it will sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor for $2.85B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by kilgore

[Warhippy]

Because this last week didn't clearly highlight EXACTLY why allowing a super small minority of companies to hold a monopoly over one of the most vital forms of infrastructure in the nation is a bad idea

 

But hey, keep doing the same thing

[King Heffy]

6 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Because this last week didn't clearly highlight EXACTLY why allowing a super small minority of companies to hold a monopoly over one of the most vital forms of infrastructure in the nation is a bad idea

 

But hey, keep doing the same thing

I'm a firm believer that this infrastructure should be nationalized and rented out, but that's probably a conversation we shouldn't be having here anymore.

[Undrafted]

The only reason BC had wired internet during that outage is because the infrastructure wasn't Rogers's, it was Shaw and Telus.  Pretty much everywhere else in country, people were offline completely.  No way they should let this merger go through

[Ronaldoescobar]

Im on Shaw and if this merger goes through they can kiss my money goodbye. Ted Rogers was an innovator and good man imo but his son Ed (who now controls the trust) is terrible. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Ronaldoescobar

[alt kilgore]

Surprise surprise Quebecor loves them some Trump, and tried to start up a 24 hour Fox News like network Sun TV News in 2010. Thankfully it went out of business in 2015.   Do you think an extreme right wing media company like Quebecor will try and bring prices down if they takeover Freedom?  Rhetorical question.

 

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2010/06/15/quebecor-to-launch-right-wing-tv-channel-modelled-after-fox-news/

 

Channel Modelled After Fox News

 

Canada will be getting a new TV news channel believed to be patterned on America’s colourful and very popular right-wing Fox News.

Quebecor Media Inc. said it’s launching Sun TV News, ending months of speculation and anticipation in Ottawa over what had been dubbed “Fox News North.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by kilgore