Ottawa considering foreign ownership changes, spectrum cap in auction

**pjw918** · 11-23-2011, 08:20 PM

Ottawa weighs loosening ownership rules in telecom sector
Globe and Mail, Nov 22
"Ottawa is considering a plan to open the door to more foreign ownership of telecom companies, a move that would allow non-Canadians to own 100 per cent of firms that have 10-per-cent market share or less...
The government hopes that loosening foreign ownership restrictions for those companies with 10-per-cent or less market share would help the new companies’ efforts to bring down wireless prices for Canadians...."

Loosen grip of Big Three, telco upstarts tell Ottawa
Globe and Mail, Nov 23
"Opening the telecom sector to more foreign investment won’t spur competition unless Ottawa also prevents the country’s three biggest players from dominating the upcoming wireless licence auction, say top executives at some of the new upstarts...
According to sources, Ottawa is contemplating capping the amount of spectrum any one company can purchase at 10 megahertz of bandwidth..."

**droidacolyte** · 11-23-2011, 09:01 PM

I don't think that's enough bandwidth to realistically support a national network. Ideally I would like WIND to have enough bandwidth to deploy 700 MHz LTE nationally. Maybe if WIND and Mobilicity shared a network together they could have 20 MHz? Would Bellus be entitled to 20?

As for Public Mobile, good for them if they can snap up a nice chunk of spectrum for themselves and deploy LTE in the metropolitan areas. They could become the MetroPCS of Canada (even right down to the CDMA, EV-DO, LTE and cheap Android handsets) I'm mainly concerned with seeing at least one national network from the new entrants (and realistically with these bandwidth caps, one may be all we can get).

**rjwells** · 11-23-2011, 10:55 PM

If Wind and Mobi don't actually merge they should at least pull a Bellus and merge their networks.

They could do a tower swap, with say, Mobi getting all the towers in Toronto, and Wind getting all the towers in Vancouver and Calgary, that kind of thing. Then allow each other to roam freely onto each others network or some such, while maintaining separate customers, separate pricing, and separate ownership of their respective areas of the country.

Maybe they could/should do a joint bid for the LTE spectrum and roll out a unified LTE network shared between the two of them. Maybe even let Public in on the fun.

It does not make sense to have two startup carriers building out capital expensive networks. Right now there are lots of Wind+Mobi towers in most major urban centers, but each by itself has too many dead spots. A merged network would have much better coverage.

**ECBomb** · 11-23-2011, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by rjwells

If Wind and Mobi don't actually merge they should at least pull a Bellus and merge their networks.

They could do a tower swap, with say, Mobi getting all the towers in Toronto, and Wind getting all the towers in Vancouver and Calgary, that kind of thing. Then allow each other to roam freely onto each others network or some such, while maintaining separate customers, separate pricing, and separate ownership of their respective areas of the country.

Maybe they could/should do a joint bid for the LTE spectrum and roll out a unified LTE network shared between the two of them. Maybe even let Public in on the fun.

It does not make sense to have two startup carriers building out capital expensive networks. Right now there are lots of Wind+Mobi towers in most major urban centers, but each by itself has too many dead spots. A merged network would have much better coverage.

I think that'd make a lot of sense. Think some other people mentioned this but really it makes a lot of sense for the companies and current subs using them.

**ahho** · 11-26-2011, 12:46 AM

I am still confused about how they quantify ownership of the spectrum. Could someone explain to me. Why do company need 20 MHz or even 10 MHz

**Mr Mystery** · 11-29-2011, 06:15 PM

Read this, seems to me Paradis drank the incumbent kool aid, these comments he made make me think we may be looking at an open auction.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2011/11/29/in...comment-177746

**2K2SilverCivicS** · 11-29-2011, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by rjwells

If Wind and Mobi don't actually merge they should at least pull a Bellus and merge their networks.

They could do a tower swap, with say, Mobi getting all the towers in Toronto, and Wind getting all the towers in Vancouver and Calgary, that kind of thing. Then allow each other to roam freely onto each others network or some such, while maintaining separate customers, separate pricing, and separate ownership of their respective areas of the country.

Maybe they could/should do a joint bid for the LTE spectrum and roll out a unified LTE network shared between the two of them. Maybe even let Public in on the fun.

It does not make sense to have two startup carriers building out capital expensive networks. Right now there are lots of Wind+Mobi towers in most major urban centers, but each by itself has too many dead spots. A merged network would have much better coverage.

Wind and Mobi wants to be National Carriers.. if you did that, they wouldnt be..

I dont think its in Winds best interest to share, unless Mobi pays a fee, as Wind has whatever area Mobi has. This could also work out if these 2 did have a joint venture..

**xtachx** · 11-29-2011, 07:31 PM

It doesnt look too good. Paradis said "canadians can expect the same cellular services everywhere". Thats like rogers line of thought - open auction for the big 3.

**Mr Mystery** · 11-29-2011, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by xtachx

It doesnt look too good. Paradis said "canadians can expect the same cellular services everywhere". Thats like rogers line of thought - open auction for the big 3.

“Canadians should receive the same services wherever they live”, he drank the Big 3's Kool-Aid, open auction it will be.

**rjwells** · 11-29-2011, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by 2K2SilverCivicS

Wind and Mobi wants to be National Carriers.. if you did that, they wouldnt be..

So does that mean that Bell and Telus are not national carriers?????

Customers would not need to know that they had merged their networks, just like customers generally are completely ignorant of the deal Bell and Telus have.

**xtachx** · 11-29-2011, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by Mr Mystery

“Canadians should receive the same services wherever they live”, he drank the Big 3's Kool-Aid, open auction it will be.

Wonder how much cash he got under the table. Maybe we will need the help of openmedia on this one.

**Mr Mystery** · 11-29-2011, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by xtachx

Wonder how much cash he got under the table. Maybe we will need the help of openmedia on this one.

Ya it's funny, when the cap on home Internet was coming we banded together, when it comes cell phone service we just bend over. Never understood how ignorant we Canadians are to cell service. Cell service has far greater importance in our futures than landline Internet.