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After Harper’s statement, Telus said it would not back down from its push to change Ottawa’s stance.

Telus’ chief commercial officer Josh Blair said the current rules allow foreign firms to purchase more wireless spectrum than the incumbents. Further, any new entrant should have to build a pan-Canadian network as the large Canadian telecom companies have done, he said, citing the $100 billion Telus has invested since 2000.

He added that the Harper government has a “history of updating and changing rules.”

“We’re going to continue to call on the Federal Government to amend the rules… let Verizon in, absolutely, into Canada,” Mr. Blair said. “Let them in, encourage them to come in, just give us the same rights as they have in Canada. As we definitely wouldn’t get preferential rates in the U.S.”

Bernard Lord, the president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said the industry welcomes competition. But the rules as they stand, which were intended to give a leg up to Canadian startups, have been “transformed into loopholes for giant foreign conglomerates to come in.”

“What we’re saying very clearly is not ‘keep the borders closed’, or ‘close the border’,” he said. “We’re saying close the loopholes before you open the border. And there’s still time for the government to do that.”

Rogers Communication echoed the sentiment of both the CWTA and Telus.

“We share the government’s objective of a healthy, competitive market and are ready and willing to compete with anyone. But we urge the government not to give an unfair advantage to a huge American company that doesn’t need special treatment,” a Rogers spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Sept. 17 is the deadline for initial bids to participate in the spectrum auction.

With files from Christine Dobby, Bloomberg and the Canadian Press