Two regional Canadian cablecos that were expected to participate in next year’s 700MHz spectrum auction have said that they are undecided about bidding, according to a local media report.
Quebecor, which operates wireless services under the Videotron…
Two regional Canadian cablecos that were expected to participate in next year’s 700MHz spectrum auction have said that they are undecided about bidding, according to a local media report.
Quebecor, which operates wireless services under the Videotron brand in Quebec, and Shaw Communications, which is yet to launch a mobile service but holds enough spectrum to do so, both acquired AWS spectrum in the 2008 auction which is suitable for an LTE network.
However, speaking at a conference in Montreal this week both companies expressed doubts about the value to them of participating.
The Globe and Mail quotes Shaw’s CEO, Brad Shaw, saying that the chance of the company participating in the auction was very low. Shaw said it had no plans to build a network with its current spectrum and said there was an extremely low chance of it acquiring smaller telcos as its business model hadn’t changed. However, he did say that Shaw would be interested in forming some sort of strategic partnership with other players.
Shaw currently uses its AWS spectrum for a wifi network.
The paper also quoted Quebecor’s CFO Jean-Francois Pruneau as saying that Videotron currently has enough capacity and did not need to participate in the tender. However the telco said it may still bid to insure that it has enough capacity in the future with data consumption on an upward trend.
Quebecor spent C$554.5m on spectrum in 2008 and Pruneau said if anything the value of its frequencies had appreciated. The French-Canadian telco is prohibited from selling off its AWS licences to Canada’s three incumbent operators until 2014.
Canada’s 700MHz spectrum will see frequencies previously used for television sold off to operators in the first half of 2013.
There will be four spectrum licences to bid for in 14 jurisdictions, and incumbents will only be allowed to purchase one licence in each jurisdiction. New entrants are allowed to purchase two.
Challenger brand Wind wanted the opportunity to be able to purchase more licences to get sufficient capacity to compete with incumbents Bell, Telus and Rogers.
It is now exploring strategic partnerships. Wind CEO Anthony Lacavera called on new entrants to seek partnerships if it is not possible for them to acquire sufficient spectrum in the upcoming auction.
