The Canadian government announced plans for another mobile spectrum auction, again reserving a large block of frequencies for newcomers to the mobile market. The AWS-3 spectrum will be auctioned early next year, under a "simpler, shorter" process designed to bring the spectrum to market before the 2.5 GHz auction planned in April 2015.
A 30 MHz block of spectrum will be set aside for the more recent entrants in the Canadian mobile market, and the awarded licences will be subject to "strict provisions" on their transfer, to ensure the AWS-3 spectrum does not end up in the hands of the dominant operators. In total, 50 MHz of paired spectrum will be available in the auction.
The AWS-3 spectrum is adjacent to the AWS spectrum auctioned in 2008, which led to the entrance of new players such as Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile in the market. Consultations on the licensing of the new spectrum will begin this summer. Wind Mobile welcomed the government's announcement and said it looks forward to participating in the consultation.
