Canadians continue to oppose foreign control of telcos: Decima survey

The percentage of Canadians opposed to foreign control of domestic communications companies including telcos increased over the past 18 months, according to a new survey conducted by Decima Research Inc. for Decima Publishing Inc. The latest research could become a focus of debate when the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology begins its review on foreign ownership restrictions in the telecom sector on January 27. Industry minister Allan Rock announced the review last November (RoW, Nov. 25/02). A telephone survey conducted last month repeated questions from a Decima survey completed in June 2001. The latest research showed that 72% of Canadians are now opposed to a change that would allow Canadian telecommunications and media companies to be majority owned by foreign companies, compared to 68% in June 2001. However, the proportion that is strongly opposed increased from 40% in 2001 to 45% in 2002. The December 2002 research showed that only 21% of Canadians support foreign majority ownership of telecom and media companies, a drop of five percentage points from the 26% level recorded in June 2001. The remaining respondents did not express an opinion either way. The numbers don’t bode well for those who will be lobbying the committee to recommend relaxing or eliminating entirely foreign ownership restrictions in the telecom sector. They must convince committee members and ultimately the government that despite public opposition, increasing existing foreign ownership limits would be a positive move. Advocates for loosening foreign ownership rules say such a change is necessary to expand the pool of capital upon which Canadian companies can draw, and that the cost of capital would decrease. While overall opposition to foreign majority ownership of telecom and media companies increased over the past 18 months, Canadians’ feelings on foreign control of specific types of communications companies have not changed all that much. (For more information on the June 2001 survey, please refer to the July 3, 2001 issue of Report on Wireless affiliate publication Network Letter.) According to the latest research, 60% of Canadians expressed the view that foreign ownership of telephone companies is unacceptable, up marginally from 59% in 2001. Another 36% said the idea was acceptable to them, down slightly from 37% a year earlier. As was the case for telephone companies, opposition and support for foreign control of cable companies changed only slightly from 2001 to 2002. According to the latest research, 56% of Canadians found foreign majority ownership of cablecos unacceptable while only 39% supported the idea. In June 2001, 57% said it was unacceptable with 37% endorsing it. Both the 2002 and 2001 research was collected through the Decima Express, a national omnibus telephone survey conducted monthly by Decima Research. The 2002 survey was conducted between December 13 and December 22. Results of the survey are based on a sample of 2,017 adult Canadians. A survey of this size can be expected to provide results accurate to within +/- 2.2%, 19 times out of 20. The 2001 survey had a smaller sample of 1,174 adult Canadians. A survey of this size can be expected to provide results accurate to within +/- 2.8%, 19 times out of 20. More survey results can be found in RoW affiliate publications Network Letter (Jan. 13/03) and Canadian Communications Reports (Jan. 16/03). For more information on the latest survey or to purchase an executive summary and/or the full research data, please contact publisher Mario Mota at (613) 230-1984 or mmota@decima.ca. Click here for more information on the Decima Express.

Canadians continue to oppose foreign control of telcos: Decima survey

News | 01/20/2003 5:00 am EST

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