Rogers CEO: Keep U.S. carriers out of Canadian market

Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed wants the same opportunity to acquire new Canadian wireless companies as U.S. carriers that are allegedly sniffing around the market.

Rogers -- which started as a cable company but expanded into the wireline voice, data and wireless businesses with a quadruple play offering -- has always been a bit feisty in defending its competitive role. It would welcome the opportunity to compete on level ground with intruders from the U.S., Mohamed said. "We're absolutely against a tilted or stacked playing field where you have a massive incumbent U.S. carrier that would be given favorable treatment, and frankly better treatment than Canadian incumbents," Mohamed said. "We can't have a U.S. foreign incumbent be allowed to buy new entrants at depressed pricing by blocking the ability of incumbent Canadian players to do the same. So it's about parity."