In the world of Canadian telecommunications companies, lowering prices would not be considered par for the course. An oligopoly of three main players has resulted in companies like Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX:SJR.B) holding pretty much all the marbles when it comes to pricing, with competitors generally falling in line with rate increases over time, charging consumers what has turned out to be some of the highest fees for mobile services in the world.
Many of these fees, as most Canadians know well, come from overage charges. During the holiday season, Canadians almost expect to pay more (whether due to overage fees due to foreign roaming for that snowbird vacation, or just roaming in general for those who road trip to see family domestically).
As it turns out, Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile has announced a short-term offer which would allow Freedom customers access to a bucket of 100 GB of data at any time during a two year contract, a move which the company's competitors scrambled to meet recently. Shaw's positioning as a low-cost, high-quality option for a Canadian consumer who is tired of paying exorbitant amounts of money for average service is catching on, and potentially changing the game for what has can only otherwise be characterized as a stagnant industry with little in the way of innovation or change supporting annual price increases which have hurt the lowest income Canadians the most.
As a matter of principle (for those who enjoy market-based economics and competition), buying shares of Shaw seems like the moral thing to do - I also think such an investment could prove to be quite lucrative.
Invest wisely, my friends.
