Freedom is up for sale as a result of
The sale of Freedom is expected to be a condition of that deal's approval by
However the deal is facing opposition from the
In
In the court documents the watchdog also said that the proposed deal between Rogers and Shaw would undo more than a decade of regulatory efforts to increase competition in the telecom sector.
The Globalive agreement is conditional on its successful acquisition of Freedom Mobile.
Globalive founder and chairman
Lacavera also said that he will continue to invest in Freedom and build out the network if Globalive's bid for the carrier is successful.
"We’re planning on going forward and acquiring more spectrum in upcoming auctions that we will then subsequently share in the spectrum and network sharing agreement with Telus and further expand the capabilities of the Freedom network," he said in an interview.
Lacavera added that his bid will address the
Meanwhile,
"I just don't see the concerns the
Winseck said he's also skeptical of the agreement because he believes it goes against Telus' own business interests and the efforts the big telcos have made over the years to essentially limit the ability of independent mobile operators to develop as viable rivals.
"We're being asked to accept that Telus is somehow going to break character here and allow Freedom to become a very formidable player in that it will have the resources and access to compete with Telus, Rogers and Bell on the basis of price, on the availability of access and on the size of data allowances, and I can't see that happening."
He said Telus would "keep Freedom on a short leash" and wouldn't allow it to challenge it on pricing or sizes of data allowances.
Telus already has a network sharing agreement with Bell, which could further complicate Globalive's deal, Winseck added, and will likely need to be brought into the discussion.
In addition to Globalive,
Lacavera has said he'd like to see a
Freedom Mobile, formerly known as Wind Mobile, was founded by Lacavera in 2008. After financial troubles and foreign ownership challenges, Wind Mobile was sold to Shaw in 2016 and underwent a rebrand.
This report by
– With files from
Companies in this story: (TSX:T, TSX:RCI.B, TSX:SJR.B)
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