The Simon Tonekham Statesman

Right now, the wireless spectrum auction in Canada is already kicking into full force! Two or so hours ago, Industry minister Jim Prentice officially kick off the auction and it’s auctioning of 40MHz to new participants, out of the 105Mhz total for newcomers that is aimed to encourage strong competition in the Canadian wireless market.

The National Post has some in-depth coverage of the ongoing spectrum coverage and it can be viewed here. You can also keep track on who is bidding and which round is the auction on by going here: http://agora.ic.gc.ca/AuctionGCLF_BTS/mainmenu.cfm

As I mentioned on my previous blog posting, the new entrant will likely to use the GSM standard – the commonly used worldwide standard throughout the world. In North America, CDMA and GSM are used. I proudly support that while CDMA is good for North American usage, GSM is the most encouraged favour of technology in cellular phones.

Licenses for the spectrum in the highly populated Toronto and Southern-Ontario region has been the strongest. Bids in those areas range from $32 million CDN to $50 million CDN.

In other related news and south of the border, the United States wants to hold another auction on the remaining spectrum for possibly some newcomers after Verizion took up the 700MHz pie spectrum. Either way, the races are now on!

The Canadian auction will wrap up sometime in the next three to four weeks. I’ll keep you posted on who will that newcomer will be….stay tuned…

References:

“SpectrumWatch: Minister Prentice kicks off auction.” National Post. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/05/27/spectrumwatch-minister-prentice-kicks-off-auction.aspx>

“Wireless auction sends quick signals.” Canadian Business. 26 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.canadianbusiness.com/technology/trends/article.jsp?content=20080526_174559_3892>

“Canada auction aims to reshape wireless market.” Reuters. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNewsMolt/idUKN2737547420080527?sp=true>

“Canadian Wireless Spectrum Auction underway.” Marketnewsgadgettalk. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://marketnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/canadian-wireless-spectrum-auction.html>

“Spectrum auction to increase competition, lower cellphone prices: Prentice.” The Canadian Press. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvm5sVnLk_XKH2BDQATkvcHTWoyw>

“Government of Canada Opens Up Wireless Industry to More Competition.” Marketwire.com. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008 <http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=861255>

“Canadian Wireless Auction Could Allow for New Nationwide Carrier.” Teleclick.ca. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.teleclick.ca/2008/05/canadian-wireless-auction-could-allow-for-new-nationwide-carrier/>

“Canada starts 2GHz wireless auction.” Electronista.ca. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/05/27/canada.2ghz.auction.starts/>

“Options abound as auction kicks off.” National Post. 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=3dc6e49a-c9ab-41ad-80a5-90ad661b4534>

“FCC mulling AWS III spectrum auction – 25Mhz swath may hit auction block.” IntoMobile.com 24 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.intomobile.com/2008/05/24/fcc-mulling-aws-iii-spectrum-auction-25mhz-swath-may-hit-auction-block.html>

“FCC to hold new auction for remaining AWS spectrum.” Phonemag 27 May 2008. 27 May 2008. <http://www.phonemag.com/fcc-to-hold-new-auction-for-remaining-aws-spectrum-052921.php>