The federal government will set aside coveted wireless spectrum in an upcoming auction in order to encourage market competition and to ensure spectrum is available to new wireless providers.
Wireless carriers with less than 10 percent national and 20 percent provincial/territorial wireless subscriber market share will be eligible to bid on the one 30 MHz block set-aside in licence areas where they are providing services to Canadians.
The government is continuing its development of the auction rules and licensing framework for the AWS-3 spectrum band, so it is holding a public consultation this summer and seeking input on auction details, such as whether licences for AWS-3 should include deployment requirements in both the short term (for example, five years after the licences are issued) and the long term (ten years after); and whether a simplified and accelerated auction process, using a sealed-bid format, would be the best approach to encourage participation.
The auction is seen as a way to also motivate investors to buy and combine smaller struggling players
Industry Minister James Moore described some of the plans for the auction of AWS-3 wireless spectrum, noting that the auction itself will take place before April 2024, in advance of the previously-planned 2,500 MHz frequencies offer.
AWS spectrum is described as even more valuable than 2,500 MHz bandwidth, with an ability to work well in both urban and rural areas and the signal’s superior capacity to penetrate buildings.
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