The pioneers in domestic satellite communications might teach the Federal Communications Commission a thing or two about frequency auctions.

I’m talking about Canadian telecommunications, of course.

Canada’s upcoming AWS band spectrum auction (1.7 GHz/2.1 GHz) begins on May 27, 2008. Canada is auctioning three chunks of spectrum, with the Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) the most interesting, explains the Wireless North blog. A number of foreign players have already revealed their intentions of bidding in Canada’s auction of cellphone airwaves, but two companies that are keeping quiet may trump them all: AT&T and T-Mobile, says the CBC.

These are the same AWS blocks that were auctioned in the U.S. in 2006. But the Canadian rules are different. Some would say better.

The Canadian government, unlike the FCC, is setting aside 3 of the 6 blocks (40% of actual spectrum) for new entrants. Exclusively.

Furthermore, they’ve mandated the existing carriers to share towers and even share roaming spectrum to give these would-be entrants a fighting chance at achieving scale.

As for the spectrum itself, it is divided up into six blocks, 3 big and 3 small called (a,b,c,d,e,f). B, C and D are the set asides and the other three are open to incumbents. Coincidentally, there are exactly three big incumbents in Canada. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean one block will go to each.

So it’s entirely possible that a telco like Telus might scoop up more or even all of the spectrum bands out west (where they need it most) and vice versa, Rogers might be bidding higher in eastern Canada. The not-so industry secret is that Canada’s “national’ carriers are rather, rather regional.

The Canadian government has published a list of applicants which includes the usual suspects such as Rogers Communications, Bell Mobility, SaskTel, Telus and dozens of others.

Bell Canada (Bell Mobility) has a 42% market share compared to Telus, Canada’s second largest telcom with 22% of market share, according to Wikipedia. Bell Canada’s principal competition is Rogers Communications.

Bell Mobility boasts over 5,884,000 subscribers while Rogers Wireless is Canada’s largest wireless carrier, surpassing Bell Mobility in subscriber volume. The total wireless subscribers in Canada is forecast to increase from 20.4 million in 2007 to 25.4 million in 2010.

Ironically, the pro-competitive rules has reignited speculation of a Bell-TELUS merger.

Will the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission make better use of their spectrum than the United States? Time will tell.

Cynics might point out President Bush promised 90 Mhz to “bridge the digital divide” back in April, 2004, but delivered essentially all the AWS band to incumbant cellular companies in September, 2006. Cable-based SpectrumCo would be the one big exception. I don’t believe they’ll be giving it away.

WiMAX.com reviews the spectrum for WiMAX in Canada. A total of 170 are allocated in the 2.3GHz band, allowing fixed and mobile applications; and 669 licenses are allocated in the 3.5 GHz designated for Fixed Wireless. There are a total of 28 license holders in these bands with the main license holders Inukshuk Wireless with 323 licenses, TELUS Communications with 142 licenses and Yourlink with 81 licenses.

License holders in the 2500MHz band include Inukshuk Wireless, Sasktel, Look Communications, Yourlink and Craig Wireless. Initially, the MCS licenses were restricted to fixed type services. Licensee holders in the MDS or MCS spectrum can offer mobile services by returning one third of their current spectrum.

The federal government’s primary laboratory for advanced telecommunications R&D, is the Communications Research Centre. CRC collaborated with the Canadian Space Agency in developing Ka-band ground terminals linked to the Anik F2 satellite for service in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut and is working with the IEEE on the 802.22 cognitive radio standard to deliver wireless broadband services over unused TV channels in sparsely populated areas.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm.