Commissioner of Competition, Canada’s competition agency, explained in filing that why huge concessions offered by Rogers Communications to buy Shaw Communications in a $16 billion deal were insufficient.
The companies have proposed divestment of Shaw’s wireless business, Freedom Mobile, to address concerns about the deal’s anti-competitive effects on the wireless market in Canada.
Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell said in a filing to the Competition Tribunal that the new owners of Freedom Mobile would be likely to provide less effective financial, managerial, technical or other support for the wireless services business.
The deal might prevent or lessen competition in wireless and business services in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, according to the commissioner.
The proposed divestment will not eliminate the lessening or prevention of competition resulting from the proposed transaction, Matthew Boswell said in a filing to the Competition Tribunal. The commissioner, head of the Competition Bureau, had already stated his opposition to the merger on competition grounds.
