Potential Participants in Canadian 700 MHz Spectrum Auction

This is the complete list as published by Industry Canada of the applicants for participation in the 700 MHz spectrum auction to be held in early 2014. The list includes all the major national carriers as well as the principal regional carriers which in the case of the Algoma District include Bell, Rogers and Telus and the regional carrier Tbaytel.

• ·       1770129 Alberta Inc.
• ·         Bell Mobility Inc.
• ·         BH Wave Acquisition Corporation
• ·         Bragg Communications Incorporated
• ·         Feenix Wireless Inc.
• ·         Globalive Wireless Management Corp.
• ·         MTS Inc.
• ·         Novus Wireless Inc.
• ·         Rogers Communications Partnership
• ·         Saskatchewan Telecommunications
• ·         TBayTel
• ·         TELUS Communications Company
• ·         The Catalyst Capital Group Inc.
• ·         Vecima Networks Inc.
• ·         Vidéotron s.e.n.c.

If one connects to this Industry Canada page it has more information about each vendor including a link to the details of the beneficial ownership of each applicant.

The list also includes a number of lesser know vendors that may be interested in very specific regions or perhaps the unpaired spectrum which will be very good for fixed wireless broadband applications. See this blog entry for details of the blocks and the regions covered.

After many weeks and days of speculation, no foreign carriers submitted applications although a couple of foreign companies show up in the beneficial ownership listings.  Also missing were the two carriers formed as a result of the last auction in 2008, namely Mobilicity and Public Mobile. However, Mr. John Bitove who is President and CEO of Mobilicity is listed as a principal of Feenix Wireless Inc. Also The Catalyst Capital Group Inc is financially connected to Mobility

To get on the list, a company had to make a refundable pre-auction deposit of 5% based on projected costs of the spectrum as produced by the government. The next step in the process is scheduled for 22 Oct 2013 when Industry Canada publishes the final list of qualified bidders. The bidders then have until 29 Oct 2013 to submit the remaining 95% of the necessary pre-auction deposits.