Prior to finalizing the Rogers-Shaw agreement, Canada will analyze the network’s resilience
A reporter in Ottawa on Thursday, July 25 said: Canada’s Industry Minister Francois Philippe Champagne said Monday that the country’s communication networks would be examined before accepting Rogers Communications Inc’s (RCIb.TO) planned C$20 billion purchase of Shaw Communications Inc (SJRb.TO).
Canada’s competition agency is preventing the merger, but Champagne has the last say in whether or not it goes forward. As a result of Rogers’ enormous network failure earlier this month, which affected everything from banks and airlines to emergency services, policymakers are now questioning the arrangement.
Champagne told a Canadian parliamentary committee investigating the collapse of the network that Canada has to improve its ability to withstand natural disasters.
The disruption has been blamed on a routing configuration change in Rogers’ core network.
There have been concerns raised by the network shutdown that the absence of competition in Canada’s telecommunications market puts customers at risk. In Canada, three telecommunications companies dominate almost all of the market share, and as a result, Canadians have some of the highest monthly phone prices in the world.
As a result, a merged organisation would have the ability to invest in telecom network resilience that neither firm could achieve alone, according to Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri.
Upon being asked if the merger had reached its conclusion, Staffieri said that it had been about size and “required investment.”
An estimated C$3 billion in planned investments would go toward enhancing the company’s network, according to Staffieri.
Wireless and internet services will be separated to create an always-on network, which Rogers plans to spend C$10 billion on over the next three years. Customers would never have to deal with a cellphone or internet service interruption again as a result of this.
At Monday’s close on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Shaw Communications’ shares declined by 0.3 percent to C$34.6, while Rogers’ shares dipped by 0.2 percent to C$60.27.
In Canada, a Canadian dollar is worth around $1.2845.
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