Canada considers relaxing foreign ownership limits
News

Canada considers relaxing foreign ownership limits

Canadian Prime Minister said that if his party removes limitations to foreign ownership he will still protect domestic telcos.

Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative government, has had a long-standing commitment to lowering limitations for foreign investment into Canada’s telecoms market. Critics within the industry have complained that the government is not acting fast enough.

According to Reuters, Harper discussed his potential plans for Canadian telecoms stating that whatever changes were made would not damage the domestic businesses, but would provide greater competition. This suggests that while the country is not about to completely liberalise its system it is more open to the idea of change.

This issue has been of considerable interest in the last few years after a Canadian court overturned its 2009 decision to allow Egyptian backed Wind Mobile to operate in the country.

The Canadian mobile market is heavily dominated by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus, Who according to Telegeography have a combined 93.1% share of the market by subscribers with little room for outside competition.

Gift this article