Thank you, Madam Chair, Vice-Chairs and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you.
My name is Andy Kaplan-Myrth, and I am VP, regulatory and carrier affairs, at TekSavvy, an independent Canadian Internet, phone and TV service provider with teams now working from their homes in southwestern Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.
TekSavvy has been serving customers for over 20 years. Today we have over 300,000 customers in every province, and we're proud to provide excellent, affordable, client-focused service.
I'm happy to return to the committee today to offer TekSavvy's views on the effects and the consequences of the Rogers-Shaw merger.
Without strong regulatory oversight and enforcement, it is clear that fewer competitors and further consolidation of market power will result in even worse outcomes for Internet and mobile users in Canada. Ultimately this proposed merger underscores the importance of regulation and oversight of the Canadian telecom landscape to protect and promote competition.
With that said, this titanic shift in the Canadian telecom industry does come with opportunities to do better. At a high level, the concerns around this merger relate to the apparent tension between investment and competition, but that is a false dichotomy. We're really talking about two different businesses: building networks and providing services. The same companies often do both, but they are distinct lines of business with different considerations for investment and competition, and many of these issues become clearer when you think about whether they relate to building networks or to delivering services.
The competition concerns with this merger are primarily about ensuring the availability of competitive services to consumers. As such, the merger of these two massive, vertically integrated companies needs to be made contingent on effective and efficient regulatory measures that promote competition for services and that protect consumers' interests in the Canadian telecom sector. In particular, the CRTC needs to finalize, enforce and commit to service-based competition by implementing the 2019 wholesale rates, ensuring access to fibre and mandating wholesale on mobile.
Finally, the Competition Bureau must be vigilant in protecting the consumer and competition from abuses of market power. In particular, the efficiencies defence only works if the bureau ensures that parties with market power don't abuse their dominance and use these efficiencies to squeeze out competitors.
In closing, to accelerate the building of networks for people in underserved areas, Canada's broadband plan must include competition by design, and it must reject the false dichotomy between investment and competition. As TekSavvy continues to demonstrate, we can have both.
Thank you again. I look forward to your questions.