Following the transaction, he said Videotron, the fourth player, will become larger and benefit from "economies of scale." Champagne stated that the approval of the deal is based on the condition that Shaw sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor's Videotron.

*I think competition is being enhanced, it isn't being reduced. There is not a reduction in the number of wireless providers," McFarlane said.

"Second point is while governments love to focus on pricing, wireless pricing has actually gone down the past two years, that's down not up despite inflation."

According to a comparison of wireless prices in 2021 by Statistics Canada, prices across eight categories of wireless services decreased by 15 per cent on average when compared to 2020.

However, Canada's wireless market continues to be ranked among the most expensive across 50 countries, according to a May 2022 report from Finland-based research firm Rewheel.

Keldon Bester, a think tank co-founder at the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Friday that the deal is indicative of weakness in the nation's competition laws.