Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau on Wednesday called on the government to take measures to prevent telecommunications giants from harming the development of Videotron and its subsidiary Freedom Mobile.
During his appearance before the elected representatives of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology in Parliament in Ottawa, the manager assured that his company is able to stimulate competition in Canada to reduce the prices of mobile tariffs, provided that it has the necessary Time and a regulatory push to compete with Bell, Telus and Rogers.
Questioned by MEPs, Mr Péladeau praised “the desire and will of Parliament” to ensure that prices for mobile packages fall. “But to get there we need rules that encourage competition,” he continued.
“The constant resistance of national incumbents to any initiative to promote competition remains problematic,” criticized Mr. Péladeau, citing, for example, Bell Canada’s legal action to avoid opening its fiber optic network to resellers.
“Freedom Effect”
When asked to highlight the benefits of competition, Pierre Karl Péladeau praised the “freedom effect” and recalled that Statistics Canada estimates that prices fell by 26.8% between December 2022 and 2023. However, there is still a lot of work to be done, said the entrepreneur, while roaming prices in Canada remain six times higher than in Europe.
When asked by Bloc MP Jean-Denis Garon about the arguments that the leaders of Canada's three telecom giants might use to justify higher prices, the president and CEO condemned her speech.
“They always tell us the same thing. That's nonsense. They tell us that the country is big and needs more twists. Everyone knows that. [Mais] If we compare ourselves, we will undoubtedly see that our prices are much higher. For them it is a cash cow,” he replied with a passion that caught the eye of some MPs.
Mr Péladeau also stressed that he would welcome the creation of other key national players in the sector. “We are fully in favor of competition. From our perspective, competition is a good thing. Competition drives innovation. […] Without competition, the economy does poorly and that is not the culture of our company,” he said.