The Editor, Re: "Wireless wave of action," Editorial, Aug. 30.
There is more to the story than just the bare bones that you support in your editorial of Aug. 30.
A NANOS survey showed that 81 per cent of Canadians are not in favour of the government's intention to allow a large foreign company to enter the Canadian market at a "fire sale" price.
In your editorial, you refer to the "Big Three" (Telus, Bell and Rogers), but fail to mention that in several Canadian markets there is a fourth or fifth company providing quality service to customers.
For instance, Eastlink is a well-run Nova Scotia-based company that has service in the Lower Mainland region of this province.
According to the federal government, it wants more competition in the industry and sees the entrance of a foreign giant as the way to achieve that.
Competition is a boon to consumers if the competition is fair competition. An example might be that your local competitor cut all its advertising rates to undercut yours and in order for you to compete, you had to do likewise.
The paper that stood at the end of the day would be the one with the deeper pockets while the other would fail and all workers would be out of a job.
The result of that would be that with no competition, rates rise and consumers suffer.
Moreover, without a competitor, the quality of the newspaper might drop to a low point of being nothing more than a toss-away organ.
Is that what you want to happen in the Canadian telecom industry? It is what might well happen if the American giant is allowed to enter the Canadian market unfairly by buying up one or two small Canadian companies and thus gaining entry into the auction with two blocks versus one for the Canadians and without having to pay for the infrastructure that the Canadian companies built.
Moreover, the Canadian companies will not be permitted to bid for the bandwidth.
Where is the fair competition in that? Nowhere but in Ottawa's blinkered view, is it an open field. Yes, and cows jump over the moon.
The so-called "Big Three" are not opposed to fair competition, but not a skewed one as Ottawa proposes.
Bob Orrick
Richmond
