PIAC is aligned with DoT in urging the Governor in Council to send CRTC 2021-130 back to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC” or “Commission”) to review the MVNO Decision, in light of the proposed Rogers-Shaw merger, which fundamentally changes the conditions of the wireless market that the Commission relied upon in CRTC 2021-130. [...] In TRP CRTC 2021-130, the Commission strongly hints to the fact that the policy was tailor-made for Shaw, that is, the record shows the extent to which Shaw’s Freedom Mobile is featured as a critical wireless disruptor to the national carriers’ market power.4 Considering Shaw’s pending exit as the 4th MNO, a policy based on a record in which Shaw argued that “Freedom and the other new regional com. [...] Overall, the Commission concluded that Canada’s slow decline of retail wireless prices as compared to other jurisdictions “suggest[s] that competition is not currently sufficient to discipline the market and protect the interests of consumers.”30 The Commission also patently rejected the argument that the high prices and profit levels in the Canadian market are reflective of the high capital inten. [...] Notably, and in stark contrast to the Commission’s competitive outlook for MVNOs in CRTC 2021-130, the Commission in CRTC 2015-177 concluded that “to compete in the retail market and offer services similar to other wireless carriers, MVNOs would need to provide broad or national network coverage.”35 The Commission provides no overriding explanation for the change, beyond the fact that the Commissi. [...] In CRTC 2015-177, the Commission already determined that wholesale MVNO access service met the three components of the Essentiality Test, yet the Commission elected to reassess whether MVNO access met the test “given the evolution of wireless service markets since 2015, and the new evidence and arguments that were raised in this proceeding.” The Commission does not specifically detail what evidenc.
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