Telesat Supports Canadian Budget Commitment To Allow Greater Foreign Ownership In Canada’s Satellite Industry

March 4, 2010

Telesat, expressed support for the Canadian government’s Throne Speech and Budget commitment to remove foreign ownership restrictions on Canadian satellite operators.  By providing Canadian operators with access to new sources of capital and the ability to diversify their shareholder base, the policy will foster investment and innovation in this important industry.  

While Canada’s satellite communications market has been fully open to foreign operators for more than ten years, Canadian satellite companies remain subject to ownership restrictions. This places them at a substantial disadvantage to larger foreign competitors in today’s highly competitive global market.  

“Telesat strongly supports the government’s decision to remove the foreign investment restrictions for our industry”, said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO.  “Although Telesat has invested billions of dollars in its satellite fleet to date, we need to continue to increase our scale in an industry where size confers key competitive advantages.  By removing the investment restrictions, Telesat will be a more effective global competitor and able to invest in new and advanced technologies for the benefit of all Canadians.”