Auction Day 21: DAVE done bidding; Vidéotron makes unexpected move

John Bitove's Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless (DAVE) appears to have locked up bandwidth in Industry Canada's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum auction.The company, which also has the financial backing of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, hasn't placed a bid since Round 81 last Wednesday and has standing high bids on 10 properties worth $238 million. Some of its bigger and more important properties include Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, but DAVE also has southern and eastern Ontario covered as well as additional licences in parts of the Golden Horseshoe.The drawback for DAVE will be that it only has 10 MHz in all but three of its markets: Guelph/Kitchener, Niagara-St. Catharines and Windsor/Leamington. At the same time, auction winners have the flexibility to use the spectrum for a multitude of applications and aren't limited to just offering mobile voice and data.Perhaps Bitove and his brain trust have something up their sleeve that only requires 10 MHz of bandwidth. If so, it likely won't be long before he reveals his cards to the public.As DAVE's auction team huddles around a computer for eight hours a day hoping that no one will take a run at the spectrum licences on which it has standing high bids, Vidéotron stunned Report on Wireless when after a quiet couple of days of bidding - one, two or three bids per round - the company pounced on seven properties in Round 125, the last of Day 21. It wasn't just the quantity of bids - it was also which licences the operator targeted.It shouldn't surprise anyone that Vidéotron continues to go after an additional 20 MHz of spectrum in Quebec City. But it did raise some eyebrows by placing additional bids on properties in the Far West and Far North. In Tuesday's last round, the company unexpectedly placed bids on 10 MHz E-bands covering Thompson/Cariboo, Prince George, Dawson Creek and Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. As well, Vidéotron is trying to capture both 20 MHz A-band and F-band licences for the Far North.Activity on the Far North licences had picked up in the last four days or so, but the battle for control of all the non-reserved licences for the region was between Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus Mobility. Globalive Communications had placed a couple of bids as did Vidéotron earlier on Tuesday.It's unclear if this is simply an eligibility points saving play or whether Vidéotron seriously covets spectrum so far from its home territory. Coincidentally, the number of eligibility points covered by its new Far North and Far West bids is equal to the 20 MHz F-band Quebec City licence on which Vidéotron chose not to bid in Round 125.With its eligibility points safe, the company's spectrum auction team will have the evening to decide whether to further pursue additional spectrum in Quebec City or be satisfied with the 40 MHz that it already has.At the end of Round 125 on Day 21 of bidding, total standing high bids barely got above the $4.06-billion level. But Rogers took its standing high bids to new heights with more than $910 million committed to 58 licences.

Auction Day 21: DAVE done bidding; Vidéotron makes unexpected move

News | 06/25/2008 11:32 am EDT

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