Friday, March 29

Telus had strategy to ‘kill, shape and slow’ Rogers-Shaw merger, document shows


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The partially redacted document suggested Telus’s efforts included company executives meeting with political leaders to try to persuade them to reject the takeover, which Telus’ documents described as their “top-of-house” strategy.

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“Throughout Q2, NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, repeatedly asked PM Trudeau during Question Period to block the merger, using TELUS talking points,” said the presentation, which was shown while Jonathan Lisus, a lawyer for Rogers, was cross-examining Telus executives Charlie Casey and Nazim Benhadid.

Titled “Project Fox,” Telus’ efforts included the Vancouver-based telco’s spectrum and network-sharing agreement with Globalive to boost its bid to purchase Shaw’s Freedom Mobile, as well as continued negotiations with other potential buyers of Freedom Mobile, the internal document showed .

Last week, Kent Thomson, a lawyer for Shaw, accused Telus of having “joined hands” with the Commissioner of Competition in pushing the case forward because Telus would benefit if the Rogers-Shaw merger was blocked.

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financialpost.com