Telus’ legal challenge to wireless policy thrown out

The Canadian Federal Court has dismissed telco Telus’ legal challenge to the government’s wireless policies, apparently putting the final nail in the coffin to the operator’s attempts to acquire smaller cellco Mobilicity, The Wall Street Journal reports. Telus had been blocked by a spectrum transfer policy introduced by telecoms ministry Industry Canada which among other things prevents larger operators buying more recent entrants’ AWS band 3G/4G wireless spectrum. According to the court decision: ‘The most that can be said is that Telus made a business gamble and lost … It is not the minister’s fault.’ A government spokesperson welcomed the decision, saying: ‘We have always been clear in our policies that we would not approve spectrum transfer requests that decrease competition in the wireless sector.’