Telecom experts criticize Rogers’s Shaw takeover plan as MPs probe outage

The experts provided a number of policy recommendations, including ways to ensure competition in the industry, and called for the Rogers-Shaw transaction to be blocked.

Telecommunications experts called for scuttling the planned Rogers Communications takeover of rival Shaw, slamming the response of Ottawa and the federal telecom regulator to the serious Rogers outage earlier this month.

The House of Commons industry committee heard testimony Monday on the outage from various experts, as well as Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Rogers executives and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission officials.

The experts provided a number of policy recommendations, including ways to ensure competition in the industry, and called for the Rogers-Shaw transaction to be blocked.

Rogers is pursuing a $26-billion merger with Shaw, but the deal still requires approval of the Competition Bureau and Champagne’s office.

The July 8 outage immobilized the Rogers network and affected millions of customers across Canada, including people trying to contact emergency services.

All four experts who testified Monday criticized the CRTC’s response to the outage, including its decision to not pursue a full public investigation.

Ben Klass, a PhD candidate at the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication, said the CRTC is responsible for the effect of the outage on access to emergency services, adding that “perhaps it should be required to rethink its relatively permissive approach to regulating critical services.”

CRTC head Ian Scott was asked during his appearance whether the telecom regulator needs any additional powers.