Industry Canada announced the winners of the 700 MHz frequency
spectrum auction on February 19, 2014.
The big winner in Northern Ontario appears to be Bell Canada
who purchased 4 blocks. The big loser was Tbaytel who was shut out. Bragg (who operates as Eastlink), Rogers and
Telus each got a single block.
Here is the breakdown of the results that affect the Algoma
District which is part of the Northern Ontario covered by Auction Area 2-09 is
shown on this map:
|
Band
|
Frequencies
|
Paired or Unpaired
|
Bandwidth
|
Company
|
|
A
|
698-704
MHz/728-734 MHz
|
Paired
|
6+6 MHz
|
Bell
|
|
B
|
704-710 MHz/734-740 MHz
|
Paired
|
6+6 MHz
|
Bell
|
|
C
|
710-716 MHz/740-746 MHz
|
Paired
|
6+6 MHz
|
Rogers
|
|
C1
|
777-782 MHz/746-751 MHz
|
Paired
|
5+5 MHz
|
Bragg (Eastlink)
|
|
C2
|
782-787 MHz/751-756 MHz
|
Paired
|
5+5 MHz
|
Telus
|
|
D
|
716-722 MHz
|
Unpaired
|
6 MHz
|
Bell
|
|
E
|
716-722 MHz
|
Unpaired
|
6 MHz
|
Bell
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Over the next few days, I
will examine the impact the of the auction results and post my impressions in due course.
Tbaytel will be fine, they'll subordinate Rogers 700 Mhz license if needed.
ReplyDeleteThey knew there was a possibility they were going to get shutout in the 700 MHz auction and planned accordingly by building an HSPA network with redundancy in key areas like Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, Sioux lookout, Red Lake and Fort Frances.
Theoretically the 700 frequency will allow for fewer sites, and the potential is there for greater in-building penetration, but with the number of 850Mhz and PCS sites tbaytel already has in place they should be fine.
I think it was critical for Bell to acquire 700 spectrum because of the number of Deferral Account sites they are required to have up and running by August of this year.
Does this mean Bell will be using the 700 spectrum for all deferral sites? Or using this spectrum exclusively for deferral accounts?
ReplyDeleteBefore addressing the comment above, I wish to add this clarification.
DeleteWhen I refer to some of the new sites constructed in the Algoma District as Deferral Account sites it is because they will qualify as such when they become fully functional and are offering services at the price rate and speeds approved by the CRTC in 2010. This is not expected to happen until June 2014 at the earliest and is supposed to be tied to a Bell Canada marketing campaign in the affected areas to let potential users know.
In the meantime, the sites will come on line and operate as normal Bell Mobility sites providing service for Bell customers and associated business partners such as Telus. This accounts for the improved coverage some users have reported.
Now for a reply to the comment.
I think the linkage between the Deferral Account sites and the 700 MHz spectrum is a bit of a stretch.
The second question is the easiest to answer. There is no way Bell will use the 700 MHz spectrum exclusively for Deferral Account service. The characteristics of the band make it too valuable for use in urban and other rural area to tie it all up in the Deferral Account areas.
As to the first question, the Deferral Account deployment schedule makes it highly unlikely that 700 MHz will be available for the initial deployment. Under the best possible circumstances – auction audit and certification, final payments by the winners, issuing of licences, etc. – mid-April would be the earliest possible date that 700 MHz could be activated anywhere on the Bell network. Since the Deferral Account deployment plan is in place with some localities already on line and considering that the auction outcome was an unknown quantity when the plan started, it is not too probable that 700 MHz service will be available in the initial roll-out.
Some idea of Bell’s future plans will become more obvious when the turbo hub provided for the Deferral Account service is known. There are two data hubs currently listed on the Bell web site:
a. 4G LTE Netgear MBR1516 - operates in both LTE 700 MHz band and HSPA+ 800/1900/2100
b. 4G Netgear MVR1210c - Operates in HSPA+ 800/1900
Only the MBR1516 has 700 MHz band capability. If the older MVR1210c is used then this would indicate no plans for the 700 MHz band in Deferral Account areas.
Another problem that four out of the five Deferral Account clusters in the Algoma District have is that they are located close enough to the US border that spill over and international agreements come into play. Only Wawa does not have this problem.
A few sites in East Algoma already operate some sectors at 1900 MHz only to cut down on the cross border interference. You will also note that some Deferral Account sites are located as close to the border area as possible so the bulk of the signal strength can be directed into the Deferral Account area.
Bell does have a challenge in the area from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay corridor because it does not an 800 MHz license in this area. At the moment, all the Bell HSPA+ sites operate in the 1900 MHz band only. One might make the case for Bell to roll out some 700 MHz coverage in this area.