Rogers and Shaw applications are pictured on a cellphone in Ottawa on Monday, May 9, 2022. TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is asking the federal telecommunications regulator to review a key part of Rogers Communications Inc.'s plan to buy Shaw Communications Inc. and sell Shaw's Freedom Mobile wireless business to Videotron. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
CHATHAM, Ont. – TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is asking the federal telecommunications regulator to review a key part of Rogers Communications Inc.’s plan to buy Shaw Communications Inc. and sell Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless business to Videotron.
The independent internet service provider is asking the CRTC to investigate the part of the deal covering wholesale broadband network arrangements between Rogers and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron.
TekSavvy alleges the agreements between Rogers and Videotron violate the Telecommunications Act and are anticompetitive.
As part of its plan to address competition concerns, Rogers wants to sell Freedom to Videotron in a move that would expand the Quebec-based company’s wireless operations nationally.
The Competition Tribunal dismissed an attempt by the Competition Bureau to block the Rogers-Shaw deal late last year in a decision that said the sale of Freedom to Videotron was adequate to ensure competition isn’t substantially reduced.
The Competition Bureau is appealing the decision.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B, TSX:SJR.B, TSX:QBR.B)
