BCE’s unsuccessful bid for Shaw Communications Inc. has shed new light on rivalries in Canada’s telecom industry and renewed speculation about which other companies could be takeover targets for Bell, Rogers or Telus.
BCE Inc. confirmed on the weekend that it attempted to outbid Toronto-based Rogers Communications Inc. as that company negotiated a friendly takeover of Shaw.
Carleton University professor Dwayne Winseck says Rogers’s proposed takeover of Shaw and its Freedom Mobile wireless arm could result in a flood of other deals, if it’s approved by the Competition Bureau.
The bureau is one of three federal bodies reviewing the Rogers-Shaw deal, which was announced in mid-March.
Winseck says there has been speculation for years that Telus is interested in Saskatchewan-owned SaskTel, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility that Bell could also be interested.
Rogers and Shaw executives say the companies must get bigger to compete as the broader industry expands 5G wireless and high-speed internet networks into rural and remote areas.
