Auction Day 10: Bidding activity picks up

As expected, bidding in Industry Canada's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum auction picked up speed on Day 10 with the change to second stage activity rules. The upswing in bidding, combined with the apparent attempt by many bidders to grab significant chunks of Canadian ariwaves, suggests we are heading for a last person standing scenario. The increase to 90% in the activity rule helped spark a flurry of bids with properties changing hands several times during Monday's bidding. Most notably was the action between Rogers Communications and several parties, including Bragg Communications over the 20 MHz A-band licences in Atlantic Canada, and then Shaw Communications, Telus Mobility and SaskTel in the West. Bragg, the owner of Atlantic cableco EastLink, also had multiple dance partners. Not only is it battling Rogers in Atlantic Canada, but it has also locked horns with Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility for a piece of the East Coast. With the number of eligibility points Bragg has left in its pocket (358), the company seems determined to grab at least 40 MHz of spectrum in Atlantic Canada, with additional bandwidth in parts of Ontario and Alberta. EastLink has sown up at least 20 MHz across of all its traditional serving territory, but holds an additional 10 MHz in some of the other Atlantic Canadian markets. These licences are in the new entrant set aside bands with the company still looking to grab more spectrum by battling the incumbent wireless operators for a slice of their airwaves. Another new entrant wannabe, Globalive Communications, is also stepping up efforts to nail valuable spectrum. And, while it may not be able to afford the big Toronto licence, it seems bent on acquiring at least some Southern Ontario's riches. The Yak Communications owner went after both Telus and Bell for pieces of the 10 MHz E-band in Southern and parts of Northern Ontario. While Globalive is keeping up the fight against the incumbent wireless carriers, it also continued to battle Vidéotron ltée for key swaths of spectrum in Quebec. Over the past several rounds, the two companies have exchanged standing high bidder status on a number of properties including the 10 MHz D-band licences covering the Eastern Townships, Trois-Rivières and Montreal as well as the 20 MHz B-bands for Eastern Quebec and Eastern Ontario/Outaouais. The one-time national hopeful, MTS Allstream, might be on its last legs with only 128 eligibility points at the end of Round 38. The company has dropped about 30% of its eligibility points in the last two days and now only has enough flexibility to bid on the two set aside bands for Manitoba as well as the 10 MHz G-band and 5 MHz I-band. For the two core mobile bands, the company will continue to find itself in tough with Shaw even though it has backed away from the 20 MHz B-band property for the last few rounds. DAVE, despite losing some flexibility last week, appears still in the game and was standing high bidder on the D-band 10 MHz set aside licences covering Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver - some of the most significant licences in the company's portfolio - in addition to some other smaller ones in Ontario. Its most prized possession is undoubtedly the 10 MHz C-band licence covering Southern Ontario. The move to stage 2 bidding has had an impact on bidding and remaining participants, with the majority of bidders losing points during Monday's bidding. If the trend continues, more eligibility points will be lost and more participants will simply find the prices too high. At the end of 10 days of bidding total high bids topped $3.2 billion.

Auction Day 10: Bidding activity picks up

News | June 10, 2008

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