Pissed Off Billionaire Flames Canada: 'You Have The Most Inefficient Telcos In The World!'
Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian billionaire who made Wind Mobile possible with substantial financial backing, has threatened to pull out of the coming government auction of wireless spectrum.
Naguib, a a telecom mogul, demands that Ottawa sets aside some spectrum for new competitors and clarifies foreign ownership rules. The billionaire is already a bull ready to charge, as clear by a conversation he had with the Globe and Mail:
He was misled by the Canadian government, regrets “totally” his decision to invest here and tells other international financiers not to invest in Canada.
“I tell you we will not bid – unless they set aside the frequencies, unless they really show seriousness that they want to create competition. But to say, ‘We want to create competition, we want your money.’ They take our money and they leave us to the dogs. Anybody who asks me, I tell him, ‘Look, we are the stupid investors that poured a billion dollars into Canada here and created 1,000 new jobs, please don’t do this mistake. Don’t come here."
The auction rules have been delayed but are expected to release by year's end. Major telcos are obviously disagreeing: Rogers insists that no spectrum should be set aside for the newcomers anymore and Telus calls Naguib's public outrage "blackmail by media." Still, Naguib sees it differently.
When asked whether he regretted his decision, he added, “Totally. I would actually, if they would give me my money back, minus 10 per cent, I would take it any day.”
Naguib's fury threatens to undo the competitive market that Canada has strived to create for the past several years. But the Egyptian mogul dismisses Canada's progress: “You have the most inefficient operators in the world." He would know, owning stakes in telcos all over the world. "If they were that good, why are they just in Canada here?” he asked rhetorically. “Why don’t we have Rogers in the U.K. or Germany? Why is Vodafone everywhere? Why is France Telecom everywhere?"
The Canadian government needs to make the right decision or we're on the brink of reverting back to a wireless oligopoly.
Image: IB Times
