News East West
TORONTO: How Canada kills competition and makes people pay through they nose!
As often happens in this country, any emerging competition is quickly acquired by big sharks so that people perpetually pay much higher rates for essential services than other countries around the globe.
So now Wind Mobile, the upstart wireless which provided cheap and very reliable service to people, is being acquired by the giant Shaw Communications reportedly for $1.6 billion.
Wind, which is owned by Mid-Bowline Group Corp., currently has about 940,000 subscribers in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
A press release by Brad Shaw , CEO of Shaw Communications, says, “The global telecom landscape is quickly evolving towards ’mobile-first’ product offerings as consumers demand ubiquitous connectivity from their service providers. The acquisition of WIND provides Shaw with a unique platform in the wireless sector which will allow us to offer a converged network solution to our customers that leverages our full portfolio of best-in-class telecom services, including fibre, cable, WiFi, and now wireless.’’
The press release adds, “This transaction represents a transformational step in the history of Shaw and we are excited about our future growth prospects in mobile. This growth will be accelerated by combining Shaw’s existing customer relationships, trusted brand and wireline and WiFi infrastructure with WIND’s impressive asset base, including its existing spectrum position and mobile network.’’
The deal has to be approved by the Competition Bureau and the Ministry of Innovation, Science & Economic Development.
The takeover of Wind is a definite big blow to customers who switched to Wind as they were fed up with exorbitant rates of other carriers.
