I'll start by saying that we're on the doorstep of a very important time in our history in the telecommunications industry. It is the same doorstep we faced in 1999 when people started talking about the Internet and whether there was a market for it. It is the same doorstep we faced in the 1960s when we started talking about whether cable TV had a market. It is the same doorstep we faced in 1985 when we wondered how many Canadians might actually want a wireless device. If I dusted off the business cases of all those different moments in time, we would see that we were dead wrong, in every estimate, in terms of the importance and quality of the capability and adoption that was important to Canadians.
We're on that doorstep again. This is the doorstep of 5G, and 5G will fundamentally change our nation and our ability to participate in the digital economy. This is really about nation-building. That's what's at stake here more than anything else.
The ability to drive 5G will lead to more affordability and lower wireless prices. It will also, importantly, create the capabilities that are important to our nation, whether they are in health care, transportation, the resource sector, oil and gas, agrotech or the technologies that will change our productivity and our capability as a nation. If these two companies come together, it will give us the opportunity to contribute in those ways and deliver on the 5G promise. That's the doorstep we're on and the importance of what we're up to.