Competition and Canadian Wireless Telecommunications

Abstract

The following report looks at the Government of Canada’s policies regarding competition in the Canadian wireless telecommunications sector, and the transition of the Government of Canada’s approach in telecommunications from regulation to increased competition. Specifically, this report looks at the impact of Wind Mobile and the other new wireless entrants on Canadian wireless telecommunications since their entry into the market following the 2008 wireless auction for advanced wireless services. The report also looks at the historical approach to telecommunications regulation in Canada, and finds that the development of Canada’s national telecommunications network was accomplished in a highly regulated environment that saw the emergence of a series of provincial monopolies and the dominance of a single national long distance exchange carrier. This regime persisted until the Alberta Government Telephones v. Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission and CNCP Telecommunications ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada and the passing of the 1993 Telecommunications Act, which would become Canada’s first amalgamated, national, legislation regulating the Canadian telecommunications industry. The Act established the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as the primary regulator in Canadian telecoms, and also allowed for a greater degree of competition in the Canadian telecommunications market.