Shaw registered to lobby on 700 MHz auction

Shaw Communications Inc., which last year abandoned plans for the rollout of a mobile wireless network, is registered to lobby the federal government for a set-aside or spectrum cap policy in the upcoming auction of the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands to mobile providers. Shaw spent $190 million on spectrum licences in Industry Canada's 2008 wireless auction. Last fall, the company said it had dropped plans for a mobile wireless network and in its place would build out a WiFi network for its customers. According to the company's filing with the federal registry of lobbyists, last updated in February, the company is communicating with the government about the “Spectrum Auction for 700 MHz and 2500 MHz ensure that the Government reserves a portion of spectrum for new entrants either a set aside or a cap.” “If the rules are really, really ideal for the new entrants, like they get a full set aside and all the other bells and whistles, they'll probably pull up in a bid,” Dvai Ghose, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said in a phone interview. He said Shaw's spectrum will appreciate in value and that Industry Canada is probably disappointed that the company is not building out a mobile network with the set-aside spectrum it purchased in 2008. “We'll see, but I think they will definitely have some sort of build requirement this time around: build it or lose it,” Ghose said of Industry Canada's auction rules, expected for release by the summer. New market entrants and small wireless players are arguing that they need a set-aside rule in the 700 MHz auction, which would reserve spectrum for them that the incumbents cannot bid on. A spectrum cap rule would be intended to stop “spectrum hoarding” by limiting the amount of spectrum a company can buy in the auction in each market. Shaw said last fall that its WiFi alternative allows the company to extend its reach beyond customers' homes without risking more than $1 billion in capital expenditures that would be necessary for a mobile wireless buildout. In a release at the time, the company said the economics of a new mobile wireless business “are extremely challenging” and that new entrants “lack the economies of scale and scope to compete effectively against well established incumbents with ubiquitous coverage, extensive device ecosystems, deep spectrum positions and large retail networks.” Analysts said at the time that Shaw dropped its plans for the mobile network after spectrum and tower sharing negotiations with Rogers Communications Inc. fell through. Shaw has been registered to lobby on the 700 MHz spectrum auction rules since 2010. It's updated registration, filed Feb. 24, continues to include this description. According to the registry, Shaw has also hired the Earnscliffe Strategy Group to lobby on telecom, broadcasting and copyright issues. That registration was updated on Dec. 20, 2011 to add information about communicating with the government on the spectrum auction rules to “ensure that the Government reserves a portion of spectrum for new entrants” by implementing set-asides or caps. Shaw declined to comment for this story. —With research from The Lobby Monitor, part of The Hill Times Publishing group sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Shaw registered to lobby on 700 MHz auction

News | March 8, 2012

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Shaw registered to lobby on 700 MHz auction

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