Ottawa has aggressively courted Verizon in an effort to lure the U.S. wireless giant north as it “fixates” on establishing a fourth national provider to spur competition, executives with Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI) said Thursday.

“Everything that they could possibly ask for they’re doing for Verizon,” Philip Lind, regulatory vice-president and vice-chair of Toronto-based Rogers, said in meeting with the Star’s editorial board. RCI is the parent of leading cellular service company Rogers Wireless.

Lind said federal government officials travelled to New York offering favours in a bid to establish a strong fourth player in a market dominated by Rogers, Montreal’s Bell Canada and B.C.-based Telus.

“Without favours we know they would not be coming,” added Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed.

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U.S. wireless operators, he said, had chosen not to compete in Canada, a regulated, thinly populated and expansive market that requires major infrastructure investment. The federal government went in, “now (Verizon is) exploring options,” Mohamed said.

A spokesman for Industry Minister James Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rogers’ claim about measures taken to attract Verizon into the Canadian wireless market. But earlier the spokesman said the government’s policy has not changed in terms of its support for a fourth, facilities-based carrier in each region of the country.

“Our view has been clear, we want effective competition across Canada,” the spokesman said in an email. “Greater competition means better prices for Canadian consumers.”

Verizon has reportedly submitted an initial offer for struggling wireless startup Wind Mobile and may be in talks with fellow new entrant Mobilicity, although last week Verizon’s chief financial officer called the company’s interest in Canada an “exploratory exercise.”

The prospect of a Verizon entry, however, has moved the incumbents to launch a public campaign calling for a reset of federal rules on the sale of coveted airwave spectrum licences needed to operate the latest mobile computing devices.

Rogers, along with Bell and Telus, want Ottawa to change regulations supporting entrants they say are stacked against established operators.

While the so-called Big 3 all say they enthusiastically support competition, they insist the rules provide an unfair edge to foreign companies like Verizon, which has more than 100 million customers.

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Last week, Darren Entwistle, chief executive of Telus, said the rules should be changed to assure parity, allowing incumbents and new entrants access to the same amount of spectrum, and encouraging an open market where foreign and domestic parties have an equal right to bid for wireless companies such as Mobilicity which are on the block.

The incumbents also want any new entrant to be required to invest in network infrastructure, rather than “cherry picking” to focus on the most populated regions.

Entwistle said Ottawa should consider delaying its auction of spectrum set for January, or at least postpone the September deadline for submission of bids to participate so the rules can be reviewed.

The government in June announced the schedule and a spokeswoman said there has been no revision to the timing since then.

On Wednesday, Mohamed said Ottawa is promoting an uneven playing field, and on Thursday BCE took out two-page newspaper advertisements calling on Canadians to back its call for even-handedness in wireless rules.

George Cope, chief executive officer of BCE, said in the open letter ad and in a separate press release that “loopholes” would allow Verizon to enter Canada with lower costs, let it ignore underserved areas and could even trigger jobs cuts and curtail investment among carriers as they are forced to defend their turf.

“We do not believe a U.S. company that is four times the size of Canada’s entire wireless industry combined requires special help from Canadians,” Cope said. “It’s profoundly unfair to all Canadians, and Ottawa needs to close the loopholes.”

Mohamed, in the meeting with the Star’s editorial board, reiterated his view that consumers are well served by three major wireless providers, suggesting that most markets in the developed world have three or fewer incumbents.

“Ultimately maybe the answer isn’t a fourth player, it’s something else,” Mohamed said, adding that “a certain amount of light regulation . . . will provide checks and balances.

“Yes, there are flash points; nobody’s suggesting the market is perfect. (But the) solution contemplated offers a worse situation,” he said, adding that market conditions for the consumer “are significantly better than five years ago.”

Mohamed also said the improvement is primarily a result of organic market forces, and would have happened for the most part without the arrival of discount rivals such as Mobilicity.

“We have to win in markets,” he said. “There’s no going back.”

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