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TAGGED AS AWS-3

Freedom debuts LTE in Calgary and Edmonton

telecom | 05/18/2017 3:18 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc.’s Freedom Mobile has expanded its LTE network into Calgary and Edmonton, the company announced Wednesday. “The launch of our powerful new LTE network furthers our commitment to providing Freedom Mobile customers in Calgary and Edmonton access to the same enhanced experience that those in the Greater Toronto Area, Southern Ontario and the Greater Vancouver Area currently enjoy,” Paul McAleese, Freedom’s chief operating officer, said in a press release. When McAleese was hired to replace former Freedom CEO Alek Krstajic last month, Canaccord Genuity...

Freedom to at least quadruple handset offering by mid-2017: Shaw

telecom | 01/12/2017 10:49 pm EST

As Shaw Communications Inc. released its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding its wireless segment to Freedom Mobile, CEO Brad Shaw said the company is looking to have a double-digit number of handsets available by mid-year, after some analysts pegged the company’s small handset roster as a potential limiting factor to its appeal. “I think when you look at the new network, one of the key things is handsets and handset availability,” Shaw said on a conference call with media Thursday. “Right now there are a couple handsets —I think...

Wind hits 1M subscribers in first quarterly report since 2014

telecom | 07/15/2016 10:46 pm EDT

On Friday, Shaw Communications Inc. released Wind Mobile’s first quarterly results since it acquired the wireless company earlier this year, which showed revenues of $132 million for the...

Shaw says timing, current market dynamics made Wind deal attractive

Media | 12/17/2015 3:43 pm EST

The economics of entering Canada’s wireless market through the acquisition of Wind Mobile today are better than past opportunities Shaw Communications Inc. has had to enter the mobile sector,...

Bell, Telus only winners in residual spectrum auction

telecom | 08/27/2015 10:19 pm EDT

BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. were the only companies that successfully bid for wireless spectrum in an auction that finished Thursday for licences that went unsold in previous competitions. Bell and Telus split the available...

Government approves all spectrum-auction applicants

telecom | 08/14/2015 2:20 pm EDT

Industry Canada has approved all six companies applying to take part in this month's residual spectrum auction, which deals with licences that went unsold in last year's 700 MHz sale and this year's AWS-3 auction. The...

All incumbents sign up for next spectrum auction

telecom | 08/12/2015 4:34 pm EDT

Canada's three national wireless carriers and regional players have applied to be part of the next spectrum auction, one intended to deal with licences that went unsold in this year's AWS-3 auction and last year's sale of 700 MHz spectrum. A posting on Industry Canada's website, dated for Tuesday, showed BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. as applicants for the auction, which is scheduled to start Aug. 25. Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. and northern Internet service provider SSi Micro Ltd. were also listed....

Rules set for next spectrum auction, applications due Aug. 6

telecom | 07/13/2015 7:53 pm EDT

Industry Canada's finalized rules for the next wireless spectrum auction have been published, as four unclaimed licences left over from last year's 700 MHz auction and this year's AWS-3...

Set-asides, caps at issue in upcoming auction of unsold spectrum

telecom | 06/22/2015 8:41 pm EDT

Large wireless carriers are arguing for the elimination of set-asides and spectrum caps in the upcoming auction of unsold AWS-3 and 700 MHz spectrum, while smaller competitors say those measures...

More spectrum to be sold in August

telecom | 05/01/2015 11:35 pm EDT

The federal government announced Friday evening that it will auction off unsold portions of 700 MHz and AWS-3 spectrum this August. According to a document posted on Industry Canada’s website, a sealed-bid auction is...

Mobilicity monitor says Wind promotion did little harm

telecom | 05/01/2015 5:41 pm EDT

New court documents show Mobilicity lost only 1,600 customers during the first four months of 2015 despite Wind Mobile’s offer of six months of free service to defectors from Mobilicity. An...

Telus to invest $4 billion in B.C. through 2018

telecom | 04/15/2015 2:21 pm EDT

Telus Corp. said Wednesday it will spend $4 billion on infrastructure and facilities in its home province of British Columbia over the next four years, including $1 billion this year. The company said in a press release that the...

Cordova was never meant to be permanent Wind CEO: source

telecom | 03/23/2015 8:06 pm EDT

When Pietro Cordova was introduced as Wind Mobile's new chief executive officer in October, it was not presented as an interim role, yet that was always the plan, according to a person with...

MTS lobbies senior federal officials

telecom | 03/10/2015 7:35 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. CEO Jay Forbes met with three cabinet ministers and the head of Canada’s telecommunications regulatory body over the last five weeks, according the federal lobbying registry. MTS chief...

Mobilicity might have lost AWS-3 funding: report

telecom | 03/05/2015 2:42 pm EST

Mobilicity might have been unable to raise the funds to bid in Tuesday’s AWS-3 spectrum auction because a $200-million financing deal fell through just minutes before the deadline, according to a report by the Financial...

AWS-3 auction format to yield quick results

telecom | 03/02/2015 9:20 pm EST

The sealed-bid, single-round format of this week’s AWS-3 auction means the results will be known much quicker than in previous spectrum sales, while at least one analyst says it will also result in cheaper prices that will benefit smaller carriers. In the auction that starts Tuesday, the big three — Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. — can bid on 20 MHz of AWS-3 spectrum across the country, along with Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. A further 30 MHz is set aside for operating new entrants in each region:...

Industry Canada accepts all bidders in AWS-3 and 2500 MHz auctions

telecom | 02/13/2015 3:19 pm EST

Industry Canada released the list of qualified bidders in both the AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions on Friday, with every applicant meeting the qualifications. There are 10 qualified bidders in...

Mobilicity hoping for post-auction sale approval: report

telecom | 02/12/2015 9:11 pm EST

Mobilicity is hoping that spectrum ownership in Canada after two upcoming auctions becomes diluted enough that the government changes course on its previous refusal to allow the sale of the company...

Wind, Mobilicity held recent acquisition talks: report

telecom | 02/11/2015 4:48 pm EST

Wind Mobile had last-minute talks about a purchase of bankrupt carrier Mobilicity in advance of the Jan. 30 application deadline for bidding in the two upcoming spectrum auctions, according to a...

Spectrum auction applicants list holds few surprises

telecom | 02/05/2015 8:34 pm EST

The list of aspiring bidders in the upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions released by Industry Canada on Thursday includes the dominant players in Canada’s wireless sector as well as the remaining new entrants from...

Mobilicity, Wind backers battle in court: report

telecom | 02/02/2015 4:36 pm EST

Catalyst Capital Group Inc., a secured creditor of wireless service provider Mobilicity, is asking for a court injunction that would prevent West Face Capital Inc., an investment firm that was part of the group that bought out Wind Mobile, from taking an active role in the management of the rival carrier, the Globe and Mail reported Monday. The Globe said Catalyst is also asking that West Face not be allowed to participate in the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction. The conflict goes back to a court battle that started last spring when Catalyst alleged one of its employee left to join West Face...

U.S. AWS-3 auction raises more than $41B US

Media | 01/30/2015 3:00 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s AWS-3 auction ended Thursday, and the regulator announced Friday that it had accepted $41.3 billion US in net bids from 31 bidders for 1,611 spectrum licences. The FCC had...

Wind confirms participation in spectrum auctions

telecom | 01/29/2015 4:22 pm EST

Wind Mobile on Thursday confirmed its participation in the upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions. The registration deadline for both is Friday. The AWS-3 auction is set to begin on March 3 and the 2500 MHz auction will...

Mobilicity, Wind in stare-down as AWS-3 deadline looms

telecom | 01/27/2015 3:39 pm EST

Mobilicity's intent to access up to $65 million in debt to participate in the upcoming AWS-3 auction has important implications for Wind Mobile, which would otherwise face no competition for the...

Mobilicity will not participate in 2500 MHz auction

telecom | 01/26/2015 4:37 pm EST

The latest report from the monitor appointed to oversee Mobilicity’s bankruptcy protection says the carrier will not participate in the upcoming 2500 MHz auction, although it is trying to raise funding to participate in the...

Wind promotion seen as shot against Mobilicity

telecom | 01/15/2015 9:08 pm EST

Wind Mobile's offer of free wireless service to customers of Mobilicity, with unlimited data, text and calls for six months, could be an offensive move to help clear away competition for set-aside spectrum in the upcoming...

Unlicensed spectrum eyed for easing wireless capacity crunch

telecom | 01/09/2015 7:06 pm EST

As data consumption by smartphone users increases exponentially every year, wireless technology companies are looking to harness the unlicensed spectrum normally used for WiFi connections to improve...

AWS-3 auction set for March 3, consultation starts on 600 MHz

telecom | 12/18/2014 8:24 pm EST

Industry Canada on Thursday announced March 3 as the date for the beginning of the AWS-3 auction and proposed policy changes to make 600 MHz, AWS-4 and 3500 MHz spectrum available for mobile use in...

CRTC, spectrum auctions among major wireless issues for 2015: analysts

telecom | 12/18/2014 6:01 pm EST

As the new year approaches, Canadian wireless carriers of all sizes await a CRTC decision on domestic roaming that could, in the words of one analyst, “disrupt” the industry with...

Catalyst calls for urgency in Mobilicity restructuring

telecom | 12/01/2014 9:58 pm EST

Recent documents submitted in Mobilicity’s court-monitored bankruptcy process indicate private-equity company Catalyst Capital Group Inc. is anxious to see a new arrangement for the wireless carrier soon. A filing from Catalyst, a secured creditor in Mobilicity, cites Jan. 30 as a key date for having a restructuring plan finalized. That is the date to which Mobilicity's bankruptcy protection was recently extended, and is also the deadline for applications to bid in Industry Canada's AWS-3 spectrum auction, which is slated to be held in March. An affidavit from Catalyst chief...

Catalyst would fund spectrum purchase for Mobility: report

telecom | 11/24/2014 10:25 pm EST

Catalyst Capital Group Inc. would help fund Mobilicity's purchase of new spectrum in the government's AWS-3 auction next year, its leader said in an interview with the Globe and Mail. An...

FCC begins AWS-3 auction

telecom | 11/13/2014 3:27 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s AWS-3 auction began on Thursday. The auction, which has a minimum price of a little more than $10 billion US and is scheduled for a single day, includes 1,614 licences in the 1695 to 1710 MHz, 1755 to 1780 MHz and 2155 to 2180 MHz bands. The 65 MHz...

Wind promises government it will invest in network

telecom | 11/04/2014 9:33 pm EST

The government has approved the buyout of Wind Mobile from VimpelCom Ltd. by a consortium led by Anthony Lacavera's Globalive Capital with a number of attached conditions, including that the new ownership group...

AWS-3 auction prompts debate around urban-rural issues

telecom | 10/10/2014 5:22 pm EDT

A proposal from one incumbent carrier to restrict set-asides in the upcoming AWS-3 auction to urban centres has elicited debate in the latest round of submissions to Industry Canada from carriers...

Quebecor ‘still interested’ in Wind

telecom | 09/17/2014 8:21 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc. is “still interested” in Wind Mobile and is “certainly interested in talking with them” following the announced buyout of the carrier on Tuesday, Quebecor’s senior vice-president and chief financial officer Jean-Francois Pruneau said Wednesday. Speaking during a CIBC investor conference in Montreal, Pruneau said that “we have, I think, very valuable spectrum ownership, which if they want, we can contribute ... in the venture and be a partner with them as well.” The $285 million that a consortium led by Wind CEO Anthony Lacavera agreed...

Buyout puts Wind on solid ground, says Lacavera

telecom | 09/16/2014 1:51 pm EDT

Wind Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera says his $285-million buyout of majority shareholder VimpelCom Ltd., announced Tuesday, brings stability to his company after years of ownership uncertainty. Lacavera will buy out the majority...

Incumbents say AWS-3 set-aside unnecessary, bad for taxpayers

telecom | 09/15/2014 8:36 pm EDT

In newly released documents Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. all criticize the set-aside for new entrants in the upcoming AWS-3 auction, with Bell is asking the government to...

Videotron cites mobile TV as key in LTE launch

Media | 09/10/2014 8:44 pm EDT

Four years after Videotron flipped the switch on a new wireless network, the carrier is launching an LTE network that president and CEO Manon Brouillette says will help the company deliver TV content to its mobile customers....

Rogers boss defends big spending on spectrum

Media | 09/10/2014 1:39 am EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.’s CEO on Tuesday said his competitors underestimate the value of wireless spectrum — something Rogers spent multiple times more money on than any other company in this year’s 700...

New technology promises to do more with less spectrum

telecom | 08/27/2014 8:28 pm EDT

A new technology that is part of the next generation of LTE could help wireless carriers more than double the speed of their networks and make the most out of their limited spectrum holdings. Each spectrum band, be it PCS, AWS or...

Experts disagree on stringency of AWS-3 build-out rules

telecom | 08/14/2014 10:56 pm EDT

While some observers are saying the deployment requirements for the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction are the strictest the industry’s ever seen, others say they’re pretty much in line...

Telus’ Entwistle says Quebecor doesn’t need ‘advantages’

telecom | 08/08/2014 8:45 pm EDT

Telus Corp. executive chair Darren Entwistle criticised the rules for the upcoming AWS-3 auction, calling it “disconcerting” that Quebecor Inc. can bid on set-aside spectrum but his...

Analysts, carrier question policy on AWS-3 set-asides

telecom | 08/06/2014 7:21 pm EDT

Analysts are split on the wisdom of Industry Canada’s rules for the upcoming AWS-3 auction, which appear to put valuable spectrum in two provinces out of reach for any carrier. The spectrum rules, detailed on July 28, set...

Build-out requirements, regulations, keeping Verizon away: analyst

telecom | 08/05/2014 8:08 pm EDT

Verizon Communications Inc. is not likely to enter the Canadian market, Barclay’s analyst Philip Huang said in a Monday research note, referring to a meeting a U.S. Barclay’s analyst had with Verizon management. Huang said that expansion to Canada was one of the topics discussed at that meeting, and that he believes Verizon is "unlikely to make a major acquisition in Canada." "Management sees important issues related to strategies that embrace geographic expansion to...

CRTC finds Rogers’ treatment of Wind Mobile ‘unjust’

telecom | 07/31/2014 9:45 pm EDT

The CRTC issued a decision Thursday in the first of its two reviews of wholesale wireless roaming in Canada, finding that Rogers Communications Inc. committed “unjust discrimination” in...

One year later, could the wireless wars re-ignite?

telecom | 07/30/2014 9:03 pm EDT

Last summer, a conflict between the federal government and Canada’s three biggest wireless carriers, centering over rules around the 700 MHz spectrum auction and the prospect of a large U.S. carrier entering the Canadian...

American private equity firm reportedly interested in Wind Mobile

telecom | 07/30/2014 7:54 pm EDT

Providence Equity Partners Inc., an American private equity firm, is interested in a stake in Wind Mobile, according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg based on unnamed sources. Providence was...

Lower-end telecom plans get biggest rate hikes: report

telecom | 07/14/2014 9:35 pm EDT

Telecommunications companies increased prices most, proportionally, over the last year for those subscribing to the lowest-end wireless, broadband-Internet and home-phone plans, according to a report...

Wind looking to offer 3G roaming thanks to price cap

telecom | 07/08/2014 10:06 pm EDT

Now that the federal government’s domestic roaming caps are in place, Wind Mobile is looking to upgrade to 3G for its roaming network by the end of the summer, chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie said on Tuesday. His company currently offers only 2G data connections outside its own network, Lockie said, because of the high prices it was forced to pay to send data over other carriers’ networks before the passage of the government’s budget bill, which included a usage-based cap on these wholesale roaming rates, on June 19. “The terms are so bad that we have to make it...

Wind seeks LTE spectrum from Shaw, Quebecor

telecom | 06/17/2014 8:27 pm EDT

TORONTO — Wind Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera said Tuesday that his company needs access to LTE spectrum, perhaps from unused space held by Quebecor Inc. or Shaw Communications Inc., if his company is to continue to be a viable...