Maher Yaghi, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, believes the Rogers and Shaw merger will drag well into 2023.
According to reporting from the Globe and Mail, the Competition Bureau’s pushback against the merger is one reason for Yaghi’s reasoning.
“The odds are increasing that it will take a full trial, and possibly a further appeal, before we get a clear view on the outcome of that transaction,” Yaghi said.
The Commissioner for Competition filed to block the merger in May, stating the transaction would decrease competition and is not a good deal for Canadians.
To appease the issue of competition, Rogers said it would sell Freedom Mobile to Vidéotron to create a fourth competitor in the wireless market. However, the Commissioner of Competition said the sale wouldn’t dispel concerns.
“The Competition Bureau continues to argue that a fourth national wireless service provider needs to have strong economics to sell wireless and wireline bundled services, and not just wireless, to remain viable,” Yaghi said.
On Monday, the Competition Tribunal delivered another blow to Rogers, ruling the July 8th service outage is applicable to the hearing. Rogers previously stated the outage was not connected to the $26-billion Shaw takeover.
According to the Competition Tribunal’s website, the first week of a five-week hearing will begin on November 7th. The last day of the hearing is December 8th. Oral arguments will push the matter well into December 14th.
Source: Globe and Mail
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