Bell, Telus only winners in residual spectrum auction

BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. were the only companies that successfully bid for wireless spectrum in an auction that finished Thursday for licences that went unsold in previous competitions. Bell and Telus split the available AWS-3 licences, while the residual 700 MHz spectrum that was up for grabs went unsold — again. Telus spent $58.3 million on six licences covering Manitoba and Saskatchewan, while Bell is on the hook for $206,063 for nine licences in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Nunavut. The three unsold 700 MHz licences in this auction were all in the North. The licences won by Telus serve a market of 2.2 million people, according to a posting that went on Industry Canada's website late Thursday afternoon. Bell's new spectrum covers 107,215 people, the government said. Telus released a statement after the results were announced, attributed to Eros Spadotto, executive vice-president of technology strategy, saying that "acquiring additional spectrum is critical to ensuring that we can provide Canadians with even faster data speeds to allow them to enjoy content on the go; stay connected with family, friends or business contacts; and benefit from remote access to health-care services." Telus was the biggest spender in the initial AWS-3 auction held in March this year, bidding $1.51 billion for 15 licences. The company also spent the most in the 2500 MHz auction that ended in May, bidding $478.8 million for 122 licences. In last year's 700 MHz sale, Telus paid $1.14 billion for 30 licences, which was second only to Roger Communications Inc.'s $3.29 billion. "Telus plans to put all of the spectrum it has acquired in recent auctions to good use supporting our customers’ desire for world-class network speed, coverage and reliability," Spadotto's statement added. There were no set-asides for the AWS-3 spectrum in this auction, unlike the initial sale in March when 60 per cent of the available spectrum was reserved for "operating new entrants." Caps that were in place for the 700 MHz auction that limited the incumbents — Bell, Telus and Rogers — to just one of the four so-called prime blocks of spectrum in each region remained in place for this latest auction. Rogers was the only incumbent still eligible to bid on 700 MHz in this latest auction, but ultimately decided not to. Rogers spokesman Aaron Lazarus said the company, despite being registered for the auction, did not submit any bids. "We already have a high-quality network and after careful consideration determined there was not a supportable business case to purchase the available spectrum in those specific geographic locations," Lazarus said in an email. "Our customers enjoy blazing-fast mobile speeds on a high-quality network because of our strategic investments in the most valuable spectrum in previous auctions and in our recent purchase of Shaw spectrum in B.C. and Alberta, and Mobilicity spectrum in southwestern Ontario." Other companies registered for Thursday’s auction included Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. and northern Internet service provider SSi Micro Ltd. Sealed bids for the licences were due Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET. Rules stated that the winner of licences would pay the value of the second-highest bid, or an amount no lower than what Industry Canada set as opening-bid prices. The opening-bid prices for the AWS-3 licences were $1.1 million for each of the three Manitoba licences and $618,000 for each of the three Saskatchewan blocks. Telus will pay more than 10 times the combined minimum bids for these licences. The AWS-3 licences in the North had minimum bid prices of $21,000 in the N.W.T., $17,000 in the Yukon and $16,000 in Nunavut. Bell is paying $44,063 more than $162,000 in combined minimum bids for all nine of these AWS-3 licences in the North. The 700 MHz licences that went unsold were assigned minimum bid prices of $110,000 in the N.W.T., $90,000 in the Yukon and $85,000 in Nunavut. When all of this spectrum was available as a single block in 2014, Industry Canada had set a minimum price of $284,000. The licences, once issued, are set for 20 years. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Bell, Telus only winners in residual spectrum auction

News | August 27, 2015

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Bell, Telus only winners in residual spectrum auction

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