The federal government’s telecom deregulation policies are bringing more fairness and competition to Canada’s local telephone market, said the CEO of Bell Aliant Regional Communications at last week’s BMO Capital Markets Media and Telecom conference.

“We can attack now on every front. We couldn’t before,” commented Stephen Wetmore, whose company lost more than 35% of its customers in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia after being undercut by a rival cable company. “If you’re not deregulated, you can’t win.”

“Deregulation means you can move all your products and services around to serve the customer,” he explained, noting that Bell Aliant planned to make its bundled offerings more competitive.

Former Industry Minister, Maxime Bernier, led the drive for telecom deregulation this spring, arguing that free market competition would produce more innovative and affordable services for consumers throughout the country.