Telecom Trends

Earlier in the week, the webcast of the Globalive ownership proceeding allowed us to hear from their lawyer, Hank Intven of McCarthy's. Hank was a member of the Telecom Policy Review panel and hearing him in action reminded me that it has been more than three and a half years since the delivery of that report.

How time flies.

Since the the panel was struck, we have had a change in government and there have been a number of different Ministers of Industry. Most of the recommendations of the panel have sat on the shelf.

In the report, the panel addressed the subject of foreign ownership restrictions, saying:

Among OECD countries, Canada has maintained one of the most restrictive and inflexible set of rules limiting foreign investment in the telecommunications sector.

The Panel had recommended a multi-phased liberalization:

• In the first phase, the Telecommunications Act should be amended to give the federal Cabinet authority to waive the foreign ownership and control restrictions when it deems it to be in the public interest.
• During that phase, there would be a presumption that investments in a new start-up telecommunications investment or in a carrier with less than 10 percent of the market are in the public interest.
• The second phase would be undertaken after a review of broadcasting policy with liberalization in a manner that treats all carriers (including the cable industry) in a fair and competitively neutral manner.

This is the regime that the Telecom Policy Review Panel had hoped for. Had government acted on these recommendations, we wouldn't be having the current Globalive paternity test.

However, like many of the other recommendations, such legislation has not even been introduced, let alone passed. As such, the CRTC is left to enforce Canada's current laws, with its double negatives.

Can Globalive adequately demonstrate that it is not otherwise controlled by non-Canadians?