(Corrects to remove reference to Canada’s industry minister opposing Rogers’ deal to buy Shaw from headline and paragraph 1)
(Reuters) – Canada’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, on Thursday said he will not permit the wholesale transfer of Shaw Communications Inc’s wireless licences to Rogers Communications Inc as part of a buyout bid for Shaw.
“The wholesale transfer of Shaw’s wireless licences to Rogers is fundamentally incompatible with our government’s policies for spectrum and mobile service competition, and I will simply not permit it,” François–Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, said.
The deal announced in March to create Canada’s second-largest cellular and cable operator has attracted regulatory scrutiny.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
