On November 22nd, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission began five days of public hearings into the proposed purchase of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications. Telus says Rogers will be large enough to buy foreign content, such as TV shows and movies, which it will hold exclusively so other companies don’t have access to it. If Rogers can’t do so, it will raise rates or delay access to services in an effort to hamper competition, says Telus.
Rogers Communications Inc. has struck a deal to acquire Shaw Communications Inc., a takeover that will reshape the country’s telecom landscape provided it receives regulatory approval. The purchase of the Calgary-based telecommunications company would give Rogers a bigger national footprint with deeper access to the West and a national wireline network, according to analysts assessing the transaction, while Rogers itself touted the potential for $1 billion in synergies.
As demand for computing and communication capacity surges, the global communication infrastructure struggles to keep pace, since the light signals transmitted through fiber-optic lines must still be processed electronically, creating a bottleneck in telecommunications networks.