Editor:
I’d like to express my concern over the statements made by Minister of Industry James Moore, with regards to the “increase in competition” in the telecom industry
The underlying premise of Moore’s stance is that Canadians will benefit from the increased competition by way of cheaper cellphone-plan prices. I disagree with this premise.
Verizon, if they were to provide service here, would not be cheaper. Just as Target has not initiated a lowering of retail prices in Canada, neither would Verizon.
I don’t think American telco prices are cheaper than ours, and Verizon is certainly not a low-priced provider.
If Moore thinks prices are too high here, let him state what a reasonable price should be. Let him also provide the rationale for the price in terms of building the telecommunications infrastructure.
Canada is a geographically large country with a small, highly dispersed population. Does Moore realize that despite this challenge, Canadian telcos provide unsurpassed services to Canadians?
Will a foreign competitor build their own infrastructure?
If cellphone-plan prices don’t drop, no additional infrastructure is built and few Canadian jobs are created, then why are we, the taxpayers of Canada, subsidizing a large foreign telco to come here?
Why are we letting them buy one or two Canadian telcos on the cheap? Why are we letting them bid on a subsidized spectrum auction on the cheap?
Give your head a shake, Minister Moore. While you might be drumming up support for the next election, you are certainly not doing Canadians a favour.
Advinder Greywall, Surrey
