Canada’s competition watchdog is appealing a court decision that approved Rogers Communications Inc.’s planned $20-billion acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc.

A spokesman for the Competition Bureau said in a Friday email to BNNBloomberg.ca that it had filed a notice of appeal in federal court against the Competition Tribunal’s decision.

“Given that this is before the courts, I’m unable to comment further at this time; however, we will be providing additional updates in the coming days,” said Jayme Albert, public affairs director for the bureau.

Rogers and Shaw said in a written statement that they were advised on Friday of the Competition Bureau commissioner’s intentions to appeal and apply for an injunction in a further attempt to block the sale.

“We are deeply disappointed that the Commissioner continues to attempt to deny Canada and Canadians the advantages that will come from these proposed transactions,” the statement said.

The Competition Tribunal’s Thursday decision found the watchdog did not prove its arguments that the telecom takeover deal would lessen competition, raise the cost of cellphone bills and worsen customer service.