The Canadian government announced a range of measures aimed at improving competition in the mobile industry, including relaxing foreign ownership restrictions and reserving spectrum for smaller operators. Under the proposals presented by Industry Minister Christian Paradis, the Telecommunications Act will be amended to lift foreign investment restrictions for telecom companies that hold less than a 10 percent share of the total Canadian telecommunications market. This is expected to help small operators access additional capital. In the upcoming auctions of frequencies in the 700MHz and 2.5GHz bands, the government will also impose caps, to ensure that the larger operators do not acquire all the spectrum available. This was requested by the smaller operators, who fear being outbid in the auction. A portion of the 700MHz band will also be reserved for public safety users such as police and firefighters across Canada. In addition, the new frequencies will have rural roll-out requirements, and the government will revise existing policy on roaming and tower sharing to encourage quicker network roll-outs and reduce the number of towers needed.
