2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum auction slated for mid-January

Bidders for 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum will face a cap on the amount of spectrum they can acquire during and for two years following an auction now scheduled for mid-January, but the bidding will otherwise be a free-for-all for incumbent telcos and others alike. Industry Canada announced on September 20 that the auction will begin in the middle of January 2004, more than two years after the department began consulting with the industry over policy matters, technical considerations and other issues (RoW, Aug. 21/01). The department is set to offer five licences in each of the country’s 172 geographic licensing areas, except for Vancouver Island where interference issues limit the number of licences available to two. Eventual licensees are expected to use the bandwidth to provide high-speed Internet access to Canadians, but have been given the flexibility to implement a variety of services. Despite requests by some parties to set aside spectrum for new entrants and to limit the participation of incumbent tele-phone service providers and cable companies, Industry Canada has implemented few restrictions and chosen not to set aside spectrum for new entrants or to set special restrictions on established players. However, the spectrum regulator did heed calls to limit the amount of spectrum that could be acquired, restricting the amount of spectrum any party could purchase to 100 MHz. This spectrum aggregation limit will also apply to existing 3500 MHz licensees (those that acquired spectrum on a first-come, first-served basis after the spectrum became available in 1998; RoW, Oct. 2/00 and Oct. 16/00), whose current holdings will apply against the spectrum cap. The department has also decided to lengthen the time during which the spectrum cap will be applied. Not only will the cap be monitored and applied during the auction, Ottawa won’t allow players to exceed the limit for two years following the contest’s conclusion. The department has, however, implemented some significant changes to its licensing policy by not requiring all licensees to contribute the 2% of adjusted gross revenue to public benefit measures such as R&D. Industry Canada will continue to enforce this policy provision for the largest of Canadian service providers, but small businesses with less than $5 million in annual gross operating revenue will not be required to meet the requirement. The department anticipates the implementation of fixed wireless access systems in both bands, but there will be technical limitations relating to the 2300 MHz band’s mobile and fixed services. "Technical restrictions (regarding the 2300 MHz band) will be placed on the mobile services limiting their applications to low mobility or portable terminals to ensure compatibility with other services operating in adjacent spectrum," the department states. The deadline for questions about the auction policy is October 10, and that for the submission of applications to participate in the auction is November 17.

2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum auction slated for mid-January

News | September 23, 2003

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