For years, in the yearly reports published by the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, we've done an analysis of provincial markets for mobile wireless service. I'm chiefly responsible for that section. I definitely agree that Quebec in recent years, due to Videotron, has set an example of the type of competition that could emerge from the fourth carrier policy.
That being said, the equation changes slightly when Videotron leaves Quebec. To be clear, I would like to see it succeed. If Videotron steps into the role that Freedom did, there is a chance it could do so.
I would like to see outcomes that are beneficial for consumers. However, there's a substantial risk that in transferring Videotron into the shoes of Freedom—but removing, chiefly, its connection to the underlying broadband facilities that it has available in its home province, and replacing that with these agreements with Rogers—it places Videotron in a completely different position in the rest of Canada.
While I would like to see it succeed, what I've seen in the past—and this is going back to the days of the rotary phone—is that companies like Bell or Roger have these arrangements whereby smaller companies depend on them, and they can use these to squeeze and eventually crush them. With Videotron moving into the rest of Canada, I worry it's so dependent on Rogers that it won't have the strength it has in Quebec, and that it won't be able to have the effect it's had there.