Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor on deadline to finalize Freedom sale deal

Today is the deadline for Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. to reach a definitive agreement on the sale of wireless carrier Freedom Mobile.

Last month, Rogers announced that it would sell Freedom to Quebecor for $2.85 billion in a deal it hopes will appease federal regulators opposed to its proposed $26-billion takeover of Shaw.

The deal will see Quebecor buy all of Freedom’s branded wireless and internet customers, as well as its infrastructure, spectrum and retail locations.

Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor argue that their agreement would effectively keep alive a “strong and sustainable” fourth wireless carrier in Canada because the deal would expand Quebecor’s wireless operations nationally.

The deadline comes as Rogers navigates fallout from its nationwide service outage that began last Friday and affected millions of customers.

The Rogers-Shaw transaction already has approval from shareholders and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, but still needs approval from the Competition Bureau and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

by The Canadian Press