Comment – Will there be a new national player in the spectrum auction?

The first major development in Industry Canada's upcoming spectrum auction could come today as interested parties submit their applications along with financial deposits to the department. Of course, the main question on most people's minds is: will there be an alliance of providers to form a new national entrant? While the department set aside 40 MHz of spectrum to encourage new entry, it's not clear that there will in fact be an application from a new entrant national operator. Report on Wireless anticipates a consortium could be formed from a number of providers, including MTS Allstream Inc., SaskTel, Quebecor Media Inc.'s Vidéotron ltée, among others. Others aren't so sure. "We think the advantages of doing it separately are more attractive than the advantages of doing it together for the purposes of bidding," Iain Grant of the SeaBoard Group tells RoW. "You want the consortium to make sure that you don't replicate, duplicate or triplicate the number of wireless towers and cell . So stitching it altogether now is probably more problematic than stitching it together when you've got something more focused to do." While this could be one of surprises resulting from today's application deadline, there are some certainties as well. Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility - collectively the Big Three - won't miss an opportunity to grab as much spectrum as they possibly can. Bell and Telus are in greater need than Rogers as the two telcos hold between 45 MHz and 55 MHz of spectrum across the country, while the cable giant has 85 MHz in all regions, expect for Toronto where it has 75 MHz. Even if MTS Allstream and SaskTel don't find themselves part of a coalition bidder, they will participate in the auction in an effort to bolster holdings in their respective strongholds of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It will be the first time both companies have participated in a mobile frequencies auction. In the past, as part of the Bell Wireless Alliance, they would acquire their spectrum from Bell after the close of the auction. While MTS Allstream hasn't been part of this alliance for some time, SaskTel found itself on the outside looking in after Telus-Bell merger talks surfaced last year. SaskTel has previously supported an open unfettered auction, but had a change of heart in reply comments to the auction process last June after it realized it might not be able to acquire spectrum the way it had previously done. The first glimpse of bidders for department officials will come today, but the separation between pretenders and contenders won't come until later this spring when bidding starts on May 27.

Comment – Will there be a new national player in the spectrum auction?

News | March 10, 2008

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