Ottawa proposes setting aside 40% of wireless spectrum for new entrants in next auction<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt\u2019s a similar framework to the 2008 spectrum auction that resulted in the birth of Videotron, Mobilicity (eventually bought by Rogers), Public Mobile (now owned by Telus) and Wind Mobile (now Shaw\u2019s Freedom). Startups got spectrum for cheaper than they would have in an open auction.<\/p>\n
ISED first proposed the set-asides to \u201caddress issues of market power\u201d when it launched consultations on the auction last August. It said the incumbents \u2013 each serve about 30 per cent of Canada\u2019s 31 million wireless subscribers \u2013 \u201clikely have the means and ability to prevent other service providers from acquiring spectrum licences in an open auction.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s moving ahead with the proposal despite pushback from BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp.<\/p>\n
The incumbents argued that well-established companies with cable, internet and telephone businesses worth billions of dollars shouldn\u2019t get an advantage that will decrease the overall government revenue earned from the valuable asset.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of the largest cable companies in Canada shouldn\u2019t be subsidized by taxpayers,\u201d Bell CEO George Cope told investors last fall.<\/p>\n
Rogers CEO Joe Natale, who called spectrum the \u201clifeblood of our industry,\u201d and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle also took issue with treating strong regional players like startups.<\/p>\n
In submissions to the regulator, Shaw hit back and said this auction was an opportunity to correct a \u201chuge imbalance\u201d in spectrum holdings between the incumbents and the newer players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will help break the status quo and end the game where the Big Three win and Canadians lose,\u201d Shaw President Jay Mehr said in November.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, ISED appears to have bought that logic.<\/p>\n
The decision comes as Bains treads a fine line between promoting facilities-based competition and pushing for lower wireless prices.<\/p>\n
Facilities-based competition supports the major players that have invested billions into Canada\u2019s networks, which ISED noted rank second among G7 countries for wireless speed. The Big Three continue to invest heavily into network upgrades and 5G technology.<\/p>\n
But ISED also pointed out that regions with strong wireless competition have the lowest wireless prices in Canada. This applies in Quebec and Saskatchewan where there are four strong carriers.<\/p>\n
In a major decision last week, the federal telecom regulator did not require the Big Three to open up their wireless networks to smaller operators that relied mostly on WiFi, but it called on them to provide cheaper data-only wireless plans.<\/p>\n
Bains called the decision a \u201cstep in the right direction,\u201d but said more must be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue affordability can only come from true competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This decision will give smaller players a leg up in the contest for a valuable block of airwaves – the 600 MHz frequency can carry signals over long distances and penetrate buildings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}