The Competition Bureau has expanded on its opposition to Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposed $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications in new submissions to the Competition Tribunal ahead of weeks of hearings scheduled to being this fall.
In legal filings released after markets closed, the agency challenged Rogers’ claims about efficiencies and said acquiring its closest competitor is anticompetitive that will harm consumers though higher prices, lower quality services and lost innovation.
It also argues that the proposed sales of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile service is “not an effective remedy” because it won’t replace growing competition Shaw Mobile would deliver in Alberta and British Columbia and would make Freedom Mobile “a subsequently weaker competitor” than it would have been except for the deal….