Rogers, Telus, and Bell Team up to Launch Anti-Verizon ‘Fair for Canada’ Campaign

Rogers, Telus, and Bell have teamed up to lobby against US telecommunications giant Verizon acquiring Canadian startup carrier Wind Mobile.

The “Big Three” incumbents want to have the opportunity to bid on Canada’s discount carriers, even though the government’s whole idea for competition is that a fourth major carrier exists in Canada’s wireless oligarchy – which would never happen if one of Rogers, Telus, or Bell acquired the startups.

A campaign called Fair for Canada has been jointly launched by the Big Three, which includes a video, ads, links to supporting articles, and a letter written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by the boards of directors of all three telcos.

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“We fundamentally believe that Canadians would not want a foreign player such as Verizon to be given preferential treatment over Canada’s longstanding telecommunications carriers,” they write, despite most evidence suggesting the exact opposite as Canadian consumers plead for outside competition.

“That’s not real competition,” says Amanda, a call centre trainer for Rogers in Moncton, in the video. She’s speaking of the government allowing a fourth legitimate carrier into the market – you know, to create real competition. Like the other telco employees in the cringe-worthy video, you can practically see the puppet strings tied to her jaw.

The Big Three talk primarily about taxpayer burdens and employment, but the average Canadian cares a lot more about lowering their $100 phone bill than whether Verizon will hire Canadians for its call centres.