Rogers Shaw

François-Philippe Champagne has approved Rogers' takeover of Shaw after allowing Quebecor's purchase of Shaw's Freedom Mobile. Read on.

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) “Shaw and Freedom Mobile are just the latest dominos to fall in the rapid ongoing collapse of competition in Canada’s telecom sector. questioning the wholesale deals. “Despite press releases claiming otherwise, Minister Champagne’s putting the nail in the coffin of competition in telecommunications in Canada. “By joining forces, Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron will become the fourth national mobile carrier that Canadians have been waiting for,” he said. “I will ensure that a new fourth national player can go toe-to-toe with the Big Three and actually drive down prices,” he said at a press conference. Champagne said he would act like a “hawk” to ensure the companies abide by the agreement. Rogers must also establishing a western headquarters in Calgary, and maintain it for a minimum of 10 years, while creating 3,000 new jobs in Western Canada. But the green light from Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who needed to approve the transfer of spectrum licences from Shaw’s Freedom Mobile to Quebecor Inc.’s Vidéotron, did not come easy. Article content

Canada on Friday approved Rogers Communications Inc's C$20 billion ($14.8 billion) buyout of Shaw Communications after securing commitments from them to ...

And it's subject to arbitration." [conditions](/markets/deals/canada-clears-rogers-shaw-deal-with-conditions-2023-03-31/), including setting up a western headquarters in Calgary, creating 3,000 new jobs in Western Canada and investing C$6.5 billion to upgrade connectivity. 2 telecoms firm in a market with some of the highest wireless bills in the world. Am a lawyer and it's a contract, I know how to read a contract and enforce them. If it breaches the commitments, Rogers [(RCIb.TO)](https://www.reuters.com/companies/RCIb.TO) will have to pay a fine of as much as C$1 billion, Champagne said at a news conference in Ottawa. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

The Canadian government will allow Rogers Communications Inc. to acquire rival Shaw Communications Inc., ending a two-year odyssey for one of the biggest ...

Rogers and Shaw then cut a deal with Quebecor, a major provider of cable and wireless service in the province of Quebec. The Quebecor-Freedom agreement was key, because it allowed Rogers and Shaw to argue that they had crafted a solution to any antitrust concerns. Toronto-based Rogers struck the agreement to buy Shaw for $20 billion in March 2021. For Rogers, buying Shaw is a way to strengthen its communications network and gain the kind of scale the company says it needs to roll out 5G service and compete with BCE Inc., Canada’s largest telecommunications firm, and Telus Corp. Rogers and Shaw have a lot of overlap in their wireless divisions, which created a problem of too much market power. With the government’s blessing finally in hand, the companies expect to close the deal by April 7.

The largest telecommunications deal in Canadian history will go forward after Rogers Communications Inc.'s $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc.

“Why should the minister be cobbling together a set of private agreements to help get a deal across the finish line that should have been dead on arrival? “There's a big incentive for both Rogers and Videotron to shirk the commitments. He said the minister's approval makes it appear as though Rogers and Videotron are governed by a set of “sidebar deals ... It wanted the court to overturn a Competition Tribunal ruling in favour of the deal. If Rogers breaches its conditions, it must pay up to $1 billion in damages, the minister said. This makes the minister look like the handmaiden of capitalism as opposed to a democratic government watching out for public interests and promoting ... “If we don't see prices coming down ... Rogers first announced its deal to buy Shaw in March 2021 and the closing deadline has been pushed back numerous times since then. Champagne approved the transfer of Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile's wireless licences to Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron, which operates in Quebec and some border regions of Ontario. But some observers worried the conditions do not go far enough. “The reality is that the deal shouldn't be proceeding in the first place and so at best, this is a consolation prize,” he said. The undertaking released by the government in relation to the agreement stated that Rogers must create those jobs over a period of five years and maintain them for at least 10 years following the deal's closure.

Rogers' proposed takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. will go ahead after it received the final sign-off it needed from Industry Minister Francois-Philippe ...

It’s on imposing tough conditions to ensure that Canadian consumers get the services they need at prices they can afford,” she said. “It would mean that instead of a system which is governed by law and by an objective, measurable standard … But a Federal Court of Appeal judge ruled last month that the Bureau’s arguments did not meet the threshold needed to overturn the ruling. We’re seeing that from people in relation to groceries,” he says. We’re seeing that in telecom. Champagne did not say whether any job protections are extended to Rogers’ operations in Eastern and Central Canada. “We’re going to see less competition. While he says it’s “entirely possible” that Videotron will become a strong national competitor, there are many questions about the effectiveness of the conditions imposed on the deal and whether the long-term drop in prices described by Champagne will come to pass. He added that all of these conditions are set out in a legal undertaking he called a “contract with Canadians” and are subject to arbitration if the companies violate the agreement. Violating the conditions would come with “significant” penalties of up to $200 million in fines for Videotron and up to $1 billion in charges for Rogers, Champagne said. Brad Shaw, the CEO of Shaw, said in a statement that “the merger will provide the scale necessary for the future success and competitiveness” of the Calgary-based company. Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri called the merger “transformative” in a statement on Friday, and said the combined companies “will invest substantially to bring more choice, more value, and more connectivity to Canadians across the country.”

Ottawa a donné son aval à la fusion des géants des télécommunications Shaw et Rogers, avec la participation de Vidéotron.

Le Bureau de la concurrence, un organisme indépendant de surveillance du marché, s’est aussi opposé au rachat, estimant qu’elle nuirait à la compétition et aux clients. La transaction de départ incluait aussi l’acquisition de Freedom Mobile par Rogers, mais le transfert des licences avait été refusé par le ministre Champagne. Parmi ses manœuvres, TELUS avait tenté de rencontrer des dirigeants politiques pour les persuader de rejeter la prise de contrôle. En vertu de l’entente, Québecor achètera tous les clients sans fil et internet de Freedom et l’ensemble de l’infrastructure, du spectre et des points de vente de Freedom. Québecor s’est d’ailleurs engagé à payer des pénalités de 200 millions de dollars si elle n’arrivait pas à respecter les termes de l’entente, a déclaré le ministre. La division Freedom Mobile de Shaw compte 1,7 million de clients.

Le Bloc québécois est le seul parti d'opposition qui se réjouit du feu vert donné vendredi à l'entente de plus de 20 milliards.

Et en plus, une compagnie québécoise, Vidéotron, qui va s'étendre à la grandeur du Canada», a-t-elle déclaré. Dans un langage un peu différent, le chef du NPD Jagmeet Singh a dénoncé l’acquisition de Shaw par Rogers, preuve que les libéraux «prennent le parti des riches et des puissants au détriment des intérêts des travailleurs et des travailleuses». L’entente tripartite, qui est la plus importante dans le secteur des télécommunications de l’histoire canadienne, prévoit le rachat du réseau de câblodistribution de Shaw par Rogers, ainsi que le rachat par Vidéotron de Freedom Mobile, la filiale de téléphonie mobile de Shaw.

Le ministre fédéral de l'Industrie, François-Philippe Champagne, a approuvé le transfert des licences sans fil de Freedom Mobile, propriété de Shaw, à Québecor, ...

Il espérait que le tribunal supérieur annulerait une décision antérieure du Tribunal de la concurrence en faveur de l’entente. Il lui est interdit de transférer des licences Freedom Mobile pendant une décennie. Un achat à grande échelle de Shaw par Rogers avait soulevé des problèmes de concurrence, et l’accord initial a été révisé pour inclure la vente de Freedom Mobile à Vidéotron. Rogers et Shaw avaient convenu en juin 2022 de vendre Freedom Mobile à Vidéotron pour 2,85 milliards de dollars dans le but d’atténuer les problèmes de concurrence soulevés par la proposition initiale. Le ministre Champagne affirme qu’Ottawa a obtenu 21 engagements juridiquement contraignants de la part de Rogers et de Vidéotron pour renforcer la concurrence dans le secteur et « faire baisser les prix ». « Si l’une ou l’autre des parties contrevient à l’un ou l’autre de ces engagements, elle s’exposera à d’importantes pénalités financières, jusqu’à 200 millions de dollars pour Vidéotron et jusqu’à 1 milliard dans le cas de Rogers », a déclaré le ministre en conférence de presse.

Shaw Communications and Corus Entertainment, the parent company of Global News, are owned by the Shaw family based in Calgary.

“I think we do have some of the highest phone bills across the world and I don’t think that’ll change from such a small move like that.” “And it’s also going to be interesting to see what happens with Telus, because now Telus will have a stronger competitor to compete with in the west.” “Just selling off the mobile assets to another company is sort of like a short term solution. They sought intervenor status in the deal, but did not take a position.” “In today’s telecommunications industry, we recognize that companies need even greater scale to compete and make ongoing investments for future technology,” Shaw said in a statement. Here’s what to know](https://globalnews.ca/news/9592439/rogers-shaw-deadline-ottawa-telecom-announcement/) [N.S.

Avec l'objectif de faire baisser les prix des services de télécommunications au pays, Ottawa autorise l'achat de Shaw par Rogers et le transfert des ...

Cette approbation d’Ottawa représentait le dernier obstacle à la conclusion du rachat de Shaw par Rogers, une transaction évaluée à 26 milliards de dollars en incluant la dette. La Cour d’appel fédérale a par la suite rejeté la contestation du Bureau de la concurrence. Les propos du ministre Champagne n’ont pas convaincu les conservateurs et les néo-démocrates qui prédisent plutôt que cette fusion mènera à une hausse des prix. « Je pense que ce sont des conditions qui sont raisonnables, a réagi la députée Kristina Michaud. Après avoir imposé des conditions strictes, les licences de Freedom Mobile seront transférées à Vidéotron », a dit le ministre. Les libéraux laissent les chefs d’entreprise s’enrichir sur le dos des familles canadiennes.