Industry Canada Announces Wireless Spectrum Auction Details

James Moore, Canada’s Minister of Industry, today announced details of the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction. Here’s the high level bullet points:

  • The auction is scheduled to begin March 3rd, 2015
  • Newer entrants such as WIND Mobile, Mobilicty and Videotron and anyone else with below 10% national and 20% provincial market share will have spectrum set aside for them.
  • This spectrum will allow carriers to deploy LTE
  • The government will be developing a plan to enable use of the AWS-4 spectrum “so that a new competitor can offer more choice to Canadians, especially those in rural and remote areas.”
  • An additional 2100 MHz of spectrum will be available for carriers to deploy “to deliver the services that Canadians want.”

Moore in his announcement continued to sing from the song sheet of wanting to “deliver more choice, lower prices and better service in Canada’s wireless industry.” Something that the Canadian government has failed to deliver on thus far. But in the interest of being fair, maybe all of these actions will make a difference. We’ll have to wait and see.

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