Indications of an ‘audacious’ Bell-Astral decision, analyst says

Media | 06/14/2013 8:49 pm EDT

Following the CRTC's wireless code decision last week, the regulator may make a second “audacious” regulatory decision on BCE Inc.’s proposed $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc., Veritas Investment Research said. Veritas analysts Neeraj Monga and Desmond Lau, in a research note Thursday, referred to CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais' speech at the Banff World Media festival on Wednesday, where he said the regulator's decision making process will mean “sometimes being audacious” with intervention and in other cases taking a “step back” and deregulating. Blais “quoted Napoleon Bonaparte and said 'the art of sometimes...

Uncertainty of telecom file delaying Wind Mobile’s ownership change

telecom | 05/31/2013 6:56 pm EDT

Seven months after VimpelCom Ltd. filed an application to change control of Wind Mobile, Industry Canada still hasn't released a decision. VimpelCom, an international mobile operator based in Amsterdam, filed application last October with an expectation that the agreement would be approved within 45 days, and before an announcement was made between Wind and VimpelCom in January, people familiar with the transfer process said in background interviews. Industry Canada hasn't yet announced an approval of the change in control under the Investment Canada Act, the people said, and VimpelCom has extended the closing date to June 30. Analysts speculate that the approval of a change in...