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New ownership restrictions must be fair: Telus

Any relaxation of foreign ownership rules in the telecom industry by the majority Conservative government should be equally applied to all players, the head of Telus Corp. said Thursday.

Any relaxation of foreign ownership rules in the telecom industry by the majority Conservative government should be equally applied to all players, the head of Telus Corp. said Thursday.

“I would certainly say as an organization has Telus not earned the right for equality — equality of treatment,” chief executive Darren Entwistle said after Telus reported a 20 per cent increase in its first-quarter profit.

“There should be a level playing field and let the free market determine the outcomes that are in the best interests of citizens,” Entwistle said.

Entwistle said he doesn’t favour the option of only easing restrictions for small wireless players that have 10 per cent marketshare, referring to new wireless players like Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile.

This kind of approach unfairly disadvantages a number of companies that have taken the biggest risks and invested heavily in technology, he said, adding that Telus has spent $82 billion in communications technology since 2000.

“Certainly with foreign ownership restrictions removed, everyone has access to international capital markets and if that’s required to execute fully on your business plan, then that avenue is available for all players,” he said after the annual shareholder meeting.

Other telecom companies have voiced their opinions on easing foreign ownership restrictions since Prime Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a majority government on Monday.

Manitoba Telecom Services said it expects the Tories to act quickly to ease foreign ownership restrictions on the Canadian telecom industry.