Business group calls on Ottawa to spend time to get wireless auction rules right

OTTAWA – Canada’s biggest business group is urging the federal government to think long and hard before allowing a foreign giant an upper-hand stake in the country’s wireless market.

There have been reports that big U.S. carrier Verizon wants to buy Wind Mobile — and possibly struggling Mobilicity — as a way to enter the Canadian market.

Canada’s big wireless carriers have launched a media blitz to warn that, under the current rules, they would be at a disadvantage to Verizon if that should happen.

With Industry Canada just weeks away from another wireless spectrum auction, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty is urging Industry Minister James Moore to take time to rethink the auction rules.

In a statement posted online, Beatty says there’s too much at stake to make a rushed decision.

Moore has rejected the pleas from Bell, Rogers and Telus to rethink the rules, suggesting he will stick to the policy on selling wireless spectrum that was in place the last time there was an auction in 2008.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Moore said more competition in the telecom industry has meant more choices and lower prices for Canadians.