TekSavvy: Battle for Survival

Name: TekSavvy: Battle for Survival (English version)
SKU: W47057

Erik Bohlin, Mansi Sethi, Brihad Ralhan, Bianca Bhardwaj

Product #:W47057

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:Economics & Public Policy, Strategy

Setting:Canada, 2025

Details:Case (PDF) • 14 pages • 2025-11-28

Subjects:

Costing Environmental regulation

Industries:

Information technology and telecom sector

Your Price:

$9.71

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This case examines TekSavvy Solutions Inc. (TekSavvy), Canada’s largest independent internet service provider, as it confronts mounting pressures from regulatory decisions, industry consolidation, and technological change. The company’s reliance on mandated wholesale access exposed it to high costs, shifting competition models, and limited strategic flexibility. By 2025, the TekSavvy Regulatory and Carrier Affairs team faced a critical choice: continue pursuing regulatory and legal relief, invest in alternative strategies, or consider an exit amid a market increasingly dominated by large incumbents.

Learning Objectives

This case can be used in a digital strategy and policy course at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Analyze regulatory trade-offs. Understand how regulators balance the goals of promoting competition and ensuring sufficient incentives for infrastructure investment in the Canadian telecom sector.
Compare competition models. Evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of service-based competition (via mandated wholesale access) versus facilities-based competition (driven by incumbent infrastructure builds).
Assess strategic options under structural constraints. Explore the range of strategic choices available to smaller challengers like TekSavvy (continued regulatory appeals, infrastructure investment, business model adjustments, or acquisition) when operating in a concentrated industry.
Examine institutional influence on market outcomes. Assess the roles of regulators, policymakers, and courts in shaping telecom competition and how firms engage these institutions through lobbying, appeals, and public advocacy.