Rogers’ planned $26 billion acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc. will undermine the competitiveness of the telecommunications industry and disproportionately affect low-income Canadians, Federal Competition Bureau attorneys say. Says.
“Generally, all consumers have been affected. We were concerned about all these consumers,” the agency said while testifying before the House Industry Committee on Jan. 25. said Gene Pratt, senior vice chairman of the Mergers and Monopoly Practices chapter of .
“We looked at the impact on the bottom tenth of taxpayers as a result of this merger,” she said, “which showed a disproportionate impact on low-income Canadians.” added.
Pratt said the agency had conducted a “thorough investigation” into the planned acquisition and said “higher prices, lower quality of service and loss of innovation could cost millions of Canadians in Alberta and British Columbia It can cause harm to people,” he said.
The agency recently appealed a competition court denial of Rogers’ planned acquisition of Shaw, arguing that the deal would significantly affect competition in Canada’s telecommunications industry and drive up prices for consumers.
However, a federal appeals court on January 24 dismissed the agency’s challenge, saying the agency’s arguments did not meet the criteria to overturn the court’s original decision.
“I support the findings and the decision to contest the merger,” Pratt told the committee.
buyout
The Cabinet must approve Rogers’ planned acquisition of rival telecom company Shaw before the deal can go through.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters on Jan. 25 that he would consider the appeals court’s dismissal of the agency’s appeal in order to “understand their reasoning.”
Mr Champagne said: Please guide my decision. ”
Rogers said he hopes to complete the Shaw acquisition by January 31st.
Conservative MP Rick Perkins said at another industry committee meeting on Jan. 25 that Rogers insiders said the merger with Shaw would eliminate “4,000 to 5,000 jobs in the combined entity.” I said I said
“Are you going to eliminate thousands of jobs with this merger?” he asked Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri.
Staffieri said the planned acquisition would create “more jobs” and that Rogers would “reallocate resources to growing areas.”
Canadian Press contributed to this report.