Quebecor-owned Videotron officially acquires Freedom Mobile, Shaw’s cellular subsidiary, while Rogers continues its merger with Shaw for the cable component.
• Also read: Ottawa approves Shaw acquisition by Rogers, Quebecor expands west
The announcement, which was confirmed by Quebecor on Monday, comes barely three days after Ottawa gave the green light to the two transactions last Friday.
“The alliance between Freedom and Videotron will transform the Canadian wireless market for the benefit of consumers, who will have access to innovative products and services at the best price in this new context of healthy competition that we offer,” the press release reads President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor, Pierre Karl Péladeau, celebrating the arrival of a “new era”.
According to Mr. Péladeau, the $2.85 billion transaction will “disrupt” the Canadian wireless telephony market by making Videotron the fourth wireless telephony provider to cover most of Canada.
However, the Federal Minister for Innovation, Science and Economic Development has presented stakeholders with a number of conditions, the most important of which is to reduce current prices in the Canadian market by around 20% over a ten-year period.
The tripartite agreement also allowed Videotron and Rogers to resolve a trade dispute that took place over the distribution of 4G/LTE networks in Quebec and the Ottawa region.