On Friday I posted a story on an upcoming announcement from Industry Minister James Moore who was going to announce something related to “wireless competition” today. Today The Globe And Mail has an idea as to what that announcement might be. It appears that the Canadian Government has hatched a plan to have an auction the 2500 Mhz spectrum that’s specifically focused on the newer wireless players. That would be Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Videotron. The big three would be left out in the cold. This auction would take place BEFORE the main 2500 Mhz auction that’s scheduled for April 2015. What’s even more interesting is this:
The federal government’s end game is to create a situation where struggling smaller players Wind Mobile and Mobilicity merge and the spectrum they hold gets rolled along with other spectrum into a vehicle that’s sufficiently well-capitalized to succeed in the market.
If that’s true, then the rocky relationship between the Canadian Government and the big three is about to get rockier because it’s a safe bet that the big three will be less than thrilled with this idea. The article notes that this scheme will be a benefit to Videotron for this reason:
Quebecor’s Videotron has signaled it may be willing to become Ottawa’s long-sought fourth wireless player and this past winter spent $233-million buying valuable spectrum in Canada’s four most populous provinces.
But Quebecor has also strongly hinted it wants more help from Ottawa in order to make it more attractive to roll out wireless service across the country.
This is a great way for them to get this help. Tune in at 9:30 AM to see if this report pans out.
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This entry was posted on July 7, 2014 at 7:58 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Canadian Government May Have Plan To Force Smaller Carriers To Merge: Report
On Friday I posted a story on an upcoming announcement from Industry Minister James Moore who was going to announce something related to “wireless competition” today. Today The Globe And Mail has an idea as to what that announcement might be. It appears that the Canadian Government has hatched a plan to have an auction the 2500 Mhz spectrum that’s specifically focused on the newer wireless players. That would be Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Videotron. The big three would be left out in the cold. This auction would take place BEFORE the main 2500 Mhz auction that’s scheduled for April 2015. What’s even more interesting is this:
The federal government’s end game is to create a situation where struggling smaller players Wind Mobile and Mobilicity merge and the spectrum they hold gets rolled along with other spectrum into a vehicle that’s sufficiently well-capitalized to succeed in the market.
If that’s true, then the rocky relationship between the Canadian Government and the big three is about to get rockier because it’s a safe bet that the big three will be less than thrilled with this idea. The article notes that this scheme will be a benefit to Videotron for this reason:
Quebecor’s Videotron has signaled it may be willing to become Ottawa’s long-sought fourth wireless player and this past winter spent $233-million buying valuable spectrum in Canada’s four most populous provinces.
But Quebecor has also strongly hinted it wants more help from Ottawa in order to make it more attractive to roll out wireless service across the country.
This is a great way for them to get this help. Tune in at 9:30 AM to see if this report pans out.
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This entry was posted on July 7, 2014 at 7:58 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.