ndallen@uunet.uu.net (Nigel Allen) (06/02/90)
For decades, telephone service in most of Alberta, one of Canada's
western provinces, has been provided by Alberta Government Telephones
(AGT), which is owned by the Alberta government. On May 31st, Alberta
Premier Don Getty said the government would sell half of the company,
and it would offer Alberta residents the first chance to buy shares.
No more than ten percent of the shares could be owned by
non-Canadians.
Complete details (when, share prices, etc.) weren't announced.
However, the {Globe and Mail} (a Toronto newspaper with a strong
emphasis on business and political coverage from which I got most of
the information for this article) mentioned a value of $3 billion for
AGT.
Traditionally, AGT was regulated by the province. A recent Supreme
Court of Canada decision said that the federal government could take
over regulation of AGT (and of SaskTel and Manitoba Telephone System,
two other telephone companies owned by provincial governments) by
passing appropriate legislation. Since the provincial government will
no longer have the ability to set rates and investment patterns for
AGT in the interests of whatever Alberta groups it wants to serve, the
need for Alberta to own its own phone company is somewhat diminished.
The only other phone company in Alberta is 'Edmonton Telephones', a
department of the City of Edmonton. Unitel Communications Inc.
(formerly CNCP Telecommunications) competes with AGT for some
long-distance and enhanced services, but is not allowed to provide
message toll service (individual long distance calls).
The political opposition isn't impressed, calling the proposed
sell-off a mistake. New Democratic Party leader Ray Martin was quoted
in the {Globe and Mail} as saying that the sell-off would cause the
cost of telephone service to soar, and would cost AGT the tax-exempt
status it now has as a government-owned company.
I don't know whether the provincial governments in Manitoba and
Saskatchewan, or the city government in Edmonton, are considering
selling off their phone companies, but they'll obviously be watching
the AGT privatization with great interest.