Verizon not entering Canada's wireless market after all

The head of Verizon Communications Inc. says the U.S. company isnotplanning toenterthe Canadian wireless telecom market.

"Verizon is not going to Canada," company CEO Lowell McAdam said in an interview with the Bloombergnews service.

McAdam saidspeculation that his companywas about towade intotheCanadian market was "way overblown."

He made the comments following the announcement of a deal that will see Verizon pay $130 billion US to buy the 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless that is currently held by British cellphone company Vodafone.

A Verizon spokesman confirmed McAdam's comments to CBC, saying the CEO said at this point in time the company doesn't plan to enter the Canadian wireless market.

Talk of a possible Verizon entry into Canada set off a heated war of words involving the existing three major players in the Canadian wireless marketRogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp.againstthe federal government.

• Q&A: Telus answers critics of Big 3 telecom 'Fair for Canada' campaign
• Verizon agrees to buy out Vodafone in $130B US deal

Thecompanies launched a public relations campaign in which they argued that government wireless policy would give an unfair advantage to a foreign company that wanted to enterCanada. They said a foreign company would be allowed to bid on two blocks ofwireless spectrum in an upcoming auction of lucrative 700 megahertz bandwith,while domestic companies would only be allowed to bid on one block each.

"This has never been about Verizon coming into Canada, or not, it's always been about fair access to spectrum," said Telus executive vice-president Josh Blair.

"Spectrum is the lifeblood of our industry, and without fair access to it, that's going to potentially, permanently disadvantage Canadian companies," he said.

• Wireless foreign ownership limits should end, report says
• Is Verizon really the 'bogeyman' Canada's telecom giants claim?
• Is the Big 3 telecom 'Fair for Canada' campaign working?

The Conservative government, which has stated that it wants to see a fourth national telecom player, had argued that the entry of Verizon would benefit consumers through increased competition.

A spokeswoman for Industry Minister James Moore said Verizon's decision not to enter Canada won't change the way the spectrum auction is conducted.

"We will continue to move forward with the auction as planned," Jessica Fletcher said

Speculation that Verizon was considering a bid in next year's wireless spectrum auction ora possible acquisition ofsmall Canadian players, such as Wind Mobile or Mobilicity, also drew criticism from unions that represent workers at the Big 3 telecom companies.

Jerry Dias, the nationalpresident of newlyformed union Unifor, applauded the decision of Verizon not to enter the Canadian market, sayingresistancefrom unions, business and privacy advocates was likely responsible.

"I don't think Verizon or the government anticipated this level of opposition to the possible spectrum bid, but we've been able to send a clear message," he said in a release.