Verizon Wireless Going North? VZW Considering Opening Up Shop in Canada

[dgstorm]

Sometime in the near future, our Canadian neighbors to the north might just have Big Red pop up in their neighborhood. According to recent comments by Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo during a conference call, Verizon is investigating the possibility of expanding their business into that country. Here's a quote with some of the details,

During Thursday’s earnings conference call, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo indicated that the carrier is conducting an “exploratory exercise” to see if an expansion into Canada makes sense.

“If you look at the population of Canada, about 70 percent of that population is between Toronto and Quebec. That’s adjacent to the Verizon Wireless properties,” Shammo said. “Again, if you look at the spectrum auction, it mirrors up exactly with what we launched here in the United States on the 700MHz [frequency].”
Shammo did note that regulatory and other issues could pose challenges to such a move.

“So again, cautiously looking at it, not ready to make any announcements today and we continue to explore and have discussions, but at this point it’s just really just an exploratory exercise,” he said, according to a transcript of the call.

Do we have any Canadian forum members who could share their perspective on this?

Source: Verizon Wireless Eyes Possible Northward Expansion to Canada - Ina Fried - Mobile - AllThingsD