My posting from last Sunday attracted a number of comments – way more than I would have expected on a beautiful Father’s Day.
Brian Gordon said:
So, it all comes down to whether or not Industry Canada believes it would be in the public interest to have more competition in the cellular market. IF they believe more competition is needed, then they have to determine if it would be in the public interest to introduce some specific measures into the auction process in order to give the competition they want a chance to succeed by allowing new players to have the ability to hit the ground running.
I am not certain that the decision tree necessarily starts with needing to determine whether it is in the public interest to have more competition in the cellular market.
It’s possible that there needs to be a decision made about what would give sufficient cause to intervene in the market place. Given other pronouncements from this government, one would assume that there must first be convincing evidence that the market isn’t working. The ex-post versus ex-ante thing.
We might want to start with the possibility of a Bell / TELUS combination. It is interesting that TELUS is suggesting that, under its combination proposal to retain all of the acquired assets of Bell, it agrees there would be a sufficient reduction in competition to warrant new entrant concessions in the spectrum auction, including a set-aside. Such concessions, characterized as a subsidy by TELUS just a few weeks ago, will ease the ability for, but not provide the assurance of, additional viable industry players.
More competition is always desirable: for cars, gas, groceries and communications services. I welcome the possibility of additional service providers. So the first decision in the tree (would it be in the public interest to have more competition in the cellular market) is easy to answer – of course it is.
The real question is whether it is in the public interest to introduce specific measures into the auction process, versus measures to prevent the market contraction. The concern, expressed by TELUS itself, is that interference in market forces in the auction could lead to disastrous unintended consequences. But that is another posting.