Verizon Oligopoly Case Study

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The state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers, is known as an oligopoly. Many Canadians can relate to the power trio of Rogers, Bell and TELUS as a perfect example of oligopoly as they own an accumulated 92% of the entire wireless market. There are fewer companies in this market; every decision made by each company has a strong impact on Canadian consumers. Judging from many consumer complaints, they feel forced to choose from these three companies because they are the only companies with consistent, wide ranged service. Many complaints include lack of service and overly expensive bills. Therefore, the oligopoly of the Big 3 Telecoms are a definite disadvantage for consumers because their influence …show more content…

In reality, many outside companies offer much cheaper deals but they are prevented to benefit Canadian consumers due to strong barriers of entry created by inside market companies. This is reflective of Verizon’s case in 2013-14, where Verizon was promising to offer the same US prices in Canada to give Canadians the ultimate freedom over their smartphone, home phone, internet and cable. However, the Big 3 have spent much of the summer telling consumers through ad campaigns that Verizon’s entry into the wireless market would be "unfair" and cost Canadian jobs. The Big 3 took advantage of their Canadian title in order to encourage their subscribers to keep the market “Canadian.” Various critics of the Canadian telecom industry said the entry of Verizon would force the Big Three to offer better services and rates. However, all the battles resulted in Verizon pulling back from the Canadian markets due to such high negativity they faced from the population. It is unfortunate that Canadians did not recognize what an amazing opportunity they had to lower their bills or increase their service by about 5 times. Theoretically, if Canada did allow Verizon access to its market, the American Company would offer cheaper prices which would lower standard average telecom bills from Rogers, Bell and TELUS, thus not only benefitting Verizon consumers, but all consumers nationwide. The oligopoly prevents Canadians from receiving cheap and high-quality deals from foreign companies, additionally it prevents local companies from giving Canadians the data and cable plans they deserve. An example of this scenario is during September 21st, 2012 when the iPhone 5 first hit the Canadian Market. Rogers, Bell and TELUS bought a specific patent before the release stating that only

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