Great quote from Bell Canada’s Lawson Hunter at the Canadian Telecom Summit yesterday about Quebecor and MTS Allstream’s efforts to be given an opportunity to get into the national wireless business. “You had your chance,” he said. “Where were you when Microcell was being sold?”

Microcell was Canada’s fourth largest wireless carrier until it was acquired by Rogers for $1.4-billion in 2004. Manitoba Telecom Services – along with Quebecor – had a shot at buying Microcell but instead paid $1.8-billion for Allstream, a struggling national wireline carrier focused on the competitive corporate telecom market. If MTS had acquired Microcell – even by over-paying – the wireless landscape would be entirely different. But for some reason that has never really explained, MTS choose Allstream, which had been in and out of bankruptcy protection. Hunter’s right – MTS had its chance to get into the national wireless business but blew the chance, and now it’s probably too late.

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