Wednesday, October 11, 2006

 

Are 3 wireless carriers enough?

There is an auction for mobile wireless spectrum coming up and a consultation paper can be expected from Industry Canada some time before the end of the year.

Expect five issues to be canvassed:
  • Should there be a set-aside for new entrants?
  • Should a spectrum cap apply?
  • Should there be mandated roaming for new entrants to be able to leverage existing networks?
  • Should there be mandated tower sharing?
  • Should the auction include national / regional / local spectrum?
A set-aside would presume that Industry Canada does not believe that the current industry structure, with 3 facilities based wireless service providers, is sufficiently competitive. It would be interesting to understand how the spectrum branch could reach that kind of conclusion, when the Competition Bureau did not intervene in the Rogers acquisition of Microcell.

That said, we have been somewhat vocal about consumer pricing for mobile wireless, with LD rates and so-called system access fees.

We'll be covering the consultation more over the coming months.

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Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 10/11/2006 06:39:00 AM
Comments:
fqwomiI also find the fact that Industry Canada is considering a hold back interesting but for a different reason. Maybe they realize they made a mistake of allowing Rogers to keep the spectrum that Microcell was using instead of reclaiming it. After all, spectrum is a public resource and companies don't own it, they just purcahse the right to use it at Industry Canada's discretion. If, as you suggest, there are some second thoughts at Industry Canada about whether or not three facilities based wireless carriers is suffficient to have a competitive market, I doubt if they are coming from the Spectrum Branch. More likely coming from the policy side or maybe even from higher up - for sure it's coming from someone who has more wisdom than the Competition Bureau.
Posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3:42 PM, October 11, 2006
 
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