All eyes on Wind Mobile as 700 MHz auction about to start
http://www.itworldcanada.com/article...-auction/88179
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You’ll read a lot of facts and figures about Industry Canada’s 700 MHz billion-dollar spectrum auction, which starts Tuesday. But the focus of many in the telecom industry will be on how much Wind Mobile gets.
That’s because Wind is the only bidder with ambitions to be a national carrier and challenge the big incumbents: BCE Inc.’s BellCanada, Rogers Communications and Telus Corp.
If Wind — which started signing subscribers in Ontario in December, 2009 and spread to B.C. and Alberta –can’t get a lot of spectrum, industry analysts believe it can’t continue to seriously challenge the Big Three.
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Up for grabs starting tomorrow is what everyone calls the best spectrum the government has ever offered: Ideal for data-hungry smart phones, spectrum in the 700 MHz band — with mobile devices that can use it — penetrates buildings better than the frequencies used now, meaning handset signals won’t automatically slump when going into a structure.
For carriers, signals in the 700 MHz band travel farther, meaning fewer antennas and towers are needed to cover a given area. That could be a significant cost saving.
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unlike the 2008 auction, where the government publicly released round-by-round results, there will only be silence from Industry Canada until the bidding is over and the results certified.
That means there won’t be any of the daily excitement — and speculation on bidder strategies — of 2008, as the industry watched the bidding go up and up and up.
Even bidders won’t know this time who is bidding on what.
The government’s aim is to make bidder focus their attention on what they want, not on what competitiors’ strategies are.
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Auction starts tomorrow, could go on for several weeks but unlike in 2008 nothing will be known until 5 days after the bidding has ended and winning bids certified.
So basically, cya in a month.