Cope rallies BCE staff as incumbents press on with campaign

BCE Inc. chief executive George Cope is calling on all 60,000 company employees to write letters to the prime minister as the incumbents' lobbying campaign to change the government's wireless policy picks up steam in advance of a Sept. 17 deadline. Cope encouraged BCE employees, in an email message this week, to write letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and to urge family and friends to support the incumbents' campaign. “his is a serious situation for our country as much as it is for our company. And I'd like to ask for your support in letting the federal government know why and how they should fix it,” Cope said in the email to company staff, obtained by The Wire Report. “Ottawa needs to hear from the people who will be affected by this situation most of all—you. Here's how you can get involved.” Canada's incumbent wireless providers, BCE, Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc., released new newspaper and radio ads and launched the website FairForCanada.ca this week, as part of their campaign against the Conservative government's wireless policy. Their ads refer to the possible loss of “thousands of Canadian jobs” in the mobile wireless sector if a large American company like Verizon Communications Inc. enters the Canadian market under existing rules that favour foreign new entrants. “You can send a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper right now by clicking the link below,” said Cope's email message to staff, adding that letters from Bell's 60,000 “team members” would “certainly have an impact” on decision making in Ottawa. The CEO encouraged BCE employees to “learn the facts” by visiting an internal site providing background, press releases, a presentation, and an open letter that Cope published this month, and to discuss the issue with “family, friends and colleagues.” Some people “may be confused that we are trying to keep Verizon and other big competitors out of Canada,” Cope said in the message, and encouraged staff to explain to those people that Bell is ready to compete with any player. It doesn't want to keep out foreign companies, he said, though it wants to prevent giving “them huge advantages over Canadian companies.” The incumbents stepped up their campaign pressure Thursday, each issuing press releases that called for changes to “loopholes” in Ottawa's wireless policy and urging Industry Minister James Moore to “carefully consider” the facts and perspectives on the upcoming 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction to ensure he's making the right choice. Telus said in a release that “time is of the essence, as the first auction deposits are due September 17 and there will be no going back after that time unless the minister amends the rules or delays the auction in advance of this date in order to take the necessary time to consider all of the facts.” "The situation has changed now that Verizon has confirmed it may take advantage of these loopholes to gain preferential treatment in Canada,” Darren Entwistle, Telus' president and CEO, said in a statement, “and we are calling on the Minister to adapt to that change and close the loopholes.” BCE, Rogers and Telus are campaigning for the government to change the rules of the upcoming spectrum auction, with initial deposits due Sept. 17 and bidding scheduled to start in January. The incumbents say the auction rules create an unfair playing field because the top three players are capped at how many "prime" spectrum licences they can purchase while U.S. telecom giant Verizon, which is now considering a Canadian market entry, could purchase twice as many as Bell, Rogers, or Telus. The incumbents released a letter on the FairForCanada.ca website Thursday, addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and signed by the members of the BCE, Telus and Rogers corporate boards, expressing concerns about the wireless policy. “e are asking your Government to immediately level the playing field such that Canadian carriers and foreign players like Verizon have the same spectrum bidding rights. This can be accomplished by either permitting all players to bid on two prime blocks of spectrum, just as foreign carriers can currently, or by limiting foreign carriers to bidding on one prime spectrum block, as is currently the case for the longstanding Canadian carriers,” said the letter, dated July 9. The letter said foreign entrants should face the same network deployment requirements as BCE, Rogers and Telus, and requested that the prime minister meet with the incumbents’ chief executives to discuss the issue. Rogers said in its release that it “looks forward to meeting with the Prime Minister directly on this matter," though the prime minister's press office did not say Thursday whether Harper will meet with the CEOs. Minister Moore said in a statement Wednesday on his constituency website that the Harper government's telecommunications policy "remains unchanged." He said the government wants “all regions of Canada to benefit from competitive market forces, which is why more progress must be made. We will continue to stay the course by ensuring Canadians benefit from a competitive telecommunications industry.” Moore said the wireless policy results from "vigorous consultation” since 2008, which “continues today" with contributions from industry, consumer groups and the public. The incumbents' pressure on government increased Thursday with support from business group the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the group, said in a post on its website Thursday that Moore should take “whatever time is needed to get the decision right.” The minister should consider the impacts that new entrant “cherrypicking” in urban markets would have on rural areas, and whether the government’s policy will lead to lower investment in telecom networks, among other issues. “Given the stakes for the industry, the wisest course is to answer these questions before he commits himself to the next, irreversible step,” Beatty wrote. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which has 110,000 members in the forestry, energy, telecommunications and media sectors, is supporting the incumbents’ position, as is one of Canada's largest business associations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE). "We've now seen serious concern about the wireless loopholes from all corners—business and labour leaders, financial and business analysts, editorialists and academics, and thousands of other Canadians all calling on their government to level the playing field. They all see the unfairness of the wireless loopholes for Canadians and that this is an issue that needs to be discussed and addressed," Cope said in a release from BCE on Thursday. The Consumers’ Association of Canada and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre are defending the government's wireless policy, saying it will help increase competition in Canada’s wireless market and benefit consumers. New entrant Wind Mobile, which Verizon is eyeing for a possible purchase, also says there is a need for wireless policies encouraging competition. Consumer advocacy group OpenMedia.ca issued a release Tuesday that said the government “must not buckle in the face of unprecedented pressure from coddled cell phone giants.” BCE declined to comment on Cope's email to employees. —With reporting by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca and reporting and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Cope rallies BCE staff as incumbents press on with campaign

News | August 1, 2013

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Cope rallies BCE staff as incumbents press on with campaign

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