The Toronto Star is reporting that Telus has asked the CRTC to conduct a regulatory review of start-up Globalive Wireless (whom I have written about previously) to determine if it meets foreign ownership rules:
Telus, based in Burnaby, B.C., has written a letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asking it to “immediately initiate” a review of Globalive to determine whether it meets key criteria set out in the Telecommunications Act.
According to Telus, the issue is whether or not a four-year, $700 million investment into the company by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom means Globalive will be effectively under foreign control. In Canada, foreign ownership of telecommunications firms is limited to 20 per cent of the voting shares of an operating company and to one-third of a holding company.
This is not the first time Telus has done this if you’re keeping score at home.
Globalive for its part, isn’t worried:
Anthony Lacavera, CEO of Globalive, said yesterday that the firm is confident it will pass any foreign ownership test by the CRTC.
“We’re very comfortable that our submission is comprehensive and obviously we’ve passed the Industry Canada process because we got our licences.”
He added that there’s no need for a public review because the CRTC has sufficient expertise to determine whether Globalive meets ownership requirements.
I wonder if Telus is scared of having to compete against real competition for the first time and is trying to take them out by any means? Because I suspect that for them, having Globealive means that the future may not be friendly for them.