If you're a foreign service provider or investor that wants to get a big stake in a Canadian-based service provider, the doors will continue to be shut if the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) gets its way. The CRTC asked the Canadian government this week to retain the current rules that ban foreign companies from owning a large stake in any of its telecom or television broadcast companies.
"The control of the communications sector should stay in Canadian hands," Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), told a parliamentary committee. He added that "no foreign entity should own more than 49 percent."
At the same time, Von Finckenstein wants more streamlined ownership rules by developing common regulations that could accommodate both the broadcast and telecom segments.
CRTC's proposal is likely a response to Canada's Conservative party's proposal to increase the 20 percent foreign ownership investment, which is aimed at driving competition, job creation and new innovation.
For more:
- Reuters has this article
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