The second week of Industry Canada’s auction of available wireless spectrum saw bidding exceed $2 billion. By round 16 on Monday, June 2 bidding totals had passed the $1 billion to $1.5 billion projected by a number of industry analysts. The auction is expected to continue for another few weeks. Forty percent of the available spectrum is available only to new entrants into the wireless telecom market thus effectively limiting Canada’s major telecoms—Rogers Communications, Inc., Bell Canada, Inc., and Telus Corporation— to bidding only on the remaining 60 percent. Calgary-based Shaw Communications lead the 24 potential new entrants as of Monday with bids on licenses located in western Canada. Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. was second with 23 high bids for licenses in Quebec. Winnipeg-based MTS Allstream was third with seven high bids. Vancouver-based Telus Corporation continued to lead the established telecoms with high bids for 59 licenses distributed across the country. Auction results are posted on the Industry Canadawebsite.
Canadian Spectrum Auction Passes $2 Billion Point in Bidding
