In the mid-1990s, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided not to regulate the nascent cellular phone industry, which now generates $43 billion annually for the Canadian economy. It would be left to the marketplace to provide services that consumers wanted, the CRTC and federal government decided.
The problem, say critics of Canada's wireless industry, is that with the huge success of three companies under this system, there's little room for competition in Canada.
Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI), Telus (TSX:T) and BCE Inc. (Bell) (TSX:BCE) and their subsidiaries – Fido, Koodo and Virgin Mobile Canada, respectively – own about 92% of all wireless subscriptions in Canada, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.