Verizon confirms interest in Canada

The other day, we told you that there was some talk about Verizon making a play for Canada's WIND Mobile as a way to grab a toehold in Canada. WIND has but 600,000 subscribers, a drop in the bucket compared to Big Red's customer roster. But as we pointed out, once establishing a beachhead up north, Verizon would be eligible to bid for spectrum in the country and grow out the business by undercutting the price of Canadian operators.

Verizon CFO Fran Shammo told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Verizon is indeed taking a look at the Canadian market. Canada's government relaxed its regulations last year to allow foreign ownership of telecom assets. Still, the largest U.S. mobile carrier is concerned about what regulatory issues might pop up and has decided to move slowly. Verizon Wireless itself is 45% owned by Vodafone, a U.K. based carrier.

While Shammo refused to discuss any specific conversation between Verizon and WIND, the latter is said to have some other potential suitors including U.S. operator AT&T, and Vodafone.

source: WSJ