Industry Canada rejects second bid by Telus to buy wireless carrier Mobilicity

OTTAWA – Ottawa has rejected another attempt by Telus Corp. to buy financially struggling wireless carrier Mobilicity.

Industry Minister James Moore says the transaction wasn’t approved for a second time. The federal government had killed a similar bid from Telus last June.

Telus (TSX:T) declined to comment on its latest attempt to buy the Toronto-based Mobilicity. Mobilicity also wouldn’t comment if it had been in talks again with Telus.

Ottawa did not give reasons for the rejection, instead repeating that it won’t approve a sale that decreases competition in Canada’s wireless industry. A spokeswoman for Moore says the government will continue to enforce the moratorium on the transfer of spectrum — radio waves needed to operate cellphone networks — which was set aside specifically for new startup wireless companies in 2008.

Last week, Telus was given federal approval to buy small talk-and-text provider Public Mobile, which was not under any sale restrictions.

Mobilicity launched in 2010 and has about 215,000 no-contract cellphone customers operating in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.