Telecommunications Act

Marginal note:Eligibility

• 16 (1) A Canadian carrier is eligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier if it is a Canadian-owned and controlled corporation incorporated or continued under the laws of Canada or a province.

• Marginal note:Established carriers

  (2) A Canadian carrier other than a corporation described in subsection (1) is eligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier if it is a corporation incorporated or continued under the laws of Canada or a province and the following conditions are met:

  • (a) the corporation was acting, or is a successor to a person that was acting, as a telecommunications common carrier in Canada on July 22, 1987, whether or not the telecommunications operations of the corporation or the person it succeeded were regulated under any Act of Parliament on that day;

  • (b) the telecommunications operations on July 22, 1987 of the corporation or the person it succeeded have been continued substantially without interruption since that day by that person, if any, and the corporation;

  • (c) the corporation and the person it succeeded, if any, satisfied the prescribed criteria respecting continuous ownership and control by Canadians since July 22, 1987; and

  • (d) the corporation and the person it succeeded, if any, have operated as a telecommunications common carrier only in the territory in which the corporation or that person operated as such on July 22, 1987, or in such greater territory and in such manner as is specified by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Canadian ownership and control

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a corporation is Canadian-owned and controlled if

  • (a) not less than eighty per cent of the members of the board of directors of the corporation are individual Canadians;

  • (b) Canadians beneficially own, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate and otherwise than by way of security only, not less than eighty per cent of the corporation’s voting shares issued and outstanding; and

  • (c) the corporation is not otherwise controlled by persons that are not Canadians.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (4) No Canadian carrier shall operate as a telecommunications common carrier unless it is eligible under this section to operate as such.

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (5) Subsections (1), (2) and (4) do not apply in respect of the ownership or operation of

  • (a) international submarine cables; or

  • (b) earth stations that provide telecommunications services by means of satellites.