It's Official: Foreign Ownership Requirements Removed For Many Carriers

Just before recessing for the summer, Parliament passed amendments to the Telecommunications Act that removed foreign ownership requirements for all but the largest Canadian telecommunications carriers.

As we noted previously, the amendments in question provide that Canadian ownership rules will no longer apply to a telecommunications common carrier if the carrier and all its affiliates have total annual telecommunications revenues that represent less than 10% of total Canadian telecommunications revenues, as determined by the CRTC.  

Based on total reported revenues for 2010, the threshold below which Canadian ownership rules no longer apply is approximately $4.2 billion, and likely growing.  All but the largest wireline and wireless carriers will fall below this threshold, including new wireless entrants, non-dominant carriers, and even several incumbent carriers.