2300/3500 MHz spectrum auction set to begin with contention on several fronts

The sell-off of leftover 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum begins today, January 10, with a number of new players fighting against well-established incumbents and other previous auction participants. Twenty-eight companies of various size are set to duke it out for the 316 remaining licences. (It should be noted that at the beginning of the residual 2300/3500 MHz auction, 457 licences were available. But first phase bidding saw 141 licences secured without contention.) As highlighted in prior issues of Report on Wireless, incumbent operators such as Bell Canada, Rogers Wireless Inc. and Telus Mobility are likely to come out on top in many, if not all, of the properties on which they are bidding. Even Cogeco Cable Inc., which is in the hunt for 30 licences in various regions across Ontario and Quebec, could provide formidable opposition. But there are a few dark horses that, depending on the size of their bank accounts, could make a significant impact on the fixed wireless service provider competitive landscape in Canada. One such player is 4253311 Canada Inc., a venture owned 50/50 by WCS North Inc. (shareholders are Rajendra Singh, Neera Singh, Samir Raj Singh and Hersh Raj Singh) and CWCS Partners III LLC, controlled by James Fleming, Philip Herget and Harry Hopper. The company lists Ottawa lawyer Kirsten Embree, Hal Perkins and Matt Newton as directors. Newton is a partner in Columbia Capital and currently a director of Adjoined Consulting, Affinity Internet, MindSHIFT Technologies, and WCS Wireless. He has been actively involved with Columbia’s investments in NMP (acquired by Commerce One), Pihana Pacific (purchased by Equinix), Relera and WNP Communications (purchased by XO Communications) and others. Perkins is a former director of Telcom Ventures – Rajendra Singh’s holding company. Singh is famous as a founder of Teligent, and has been involved with dozens of global wireless companies, including in Canada with LanSer Telecom Inc. He has extensive spectrum holdings around the world, and has parlayed those into hundreds of millions of dollars in worth. Says one wireless industry observer with whom Report on Wireless spoke about Singh’s involvement in this auction: "It’s what he does. He’s a spectrum guy…If it’s a bargain, why not?" 4253311 Canada has already secured the rights to more than 50% of the 107 licences on which it placed bids. Those 61 licences are spread across the country from Quebec through Ontario to the Prairies. Other properties are also found in Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia. The already acquired properties could also in and of themselves be considered a healthy auction haul. A majority of the most attractive licences were already scooped up last February, but with the number of participants nearly a third larger than the first time around, it appears that there are still some attractive properties left to be had. Report on Wireless predicted that there would be a huge windfall for the federal government last time around, but that didn’t materialize as intense bidding was limited to a small number of licences and was over in a week. Observers should expect much of the same, despite the expanded number of players, with many of the hopeful licensees dropping out when the bidding becomes too rich.

2300/3500 MHz spectrum auction set to begin with contention on several fronts

News | January 10, 2005

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