Reuters reports that Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, one of the biggest mobile operators in the Middle East, is part of a consortium chosen to create a new Canadian mobile operator. The company joined forces with Globalive Communications in the bid, the parent company of Yak Communications which offers telecoms services to more than 1 million customers across Canada. “Developing this business is in line with our strategy of investing in high-growth countries which provide superior returns to our shareholders,” Naguib Sawiris, chairman and CEO of Orascom, said in a statement. “We are very excited about this opportunity to develop a presence in Canada, a country with a very interesting growth profile, a mobile penetration rate lower than that of a number of countries in which we operate, a very high average revenue per user and only one operator offering GSM services and enjoying GSM roaming revenues.” Dow Jones Newswires claims the consortium bid C$442 million (US$441 million) for the provisional license to provide coverage to a population of 26 million, covering all major areas except Quebec. The new license is expected to be awarded pending regulatory approval by Industry Canada.

Orascom was one of the winners in Canada’s auction of wireless spectrum that ended yesterday after 331 rounds, and two months of bidding, and raised a total of C$4.25 billion (US$4.24 billion). The proceeds were more than twice the amount analysts had been expecting. Reuters notes that, according to the auction website, Rogers Communications, which owns Canada’s largest mobile operator, Rogers Wireless, was the top bidder with offers totalling C$999.4 million (US$997 million). The amount let the company secure spectrum in every area of the country. Number two operator Telus was the second-largest spender with bids of C$879.9 million (US$878 million) followed by Bell Mobility with C$740.93 million (US$739 million). Other new entrants in addition to Orascom/Globalive included Quebecor, Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless and Shaw Communications. Canada’s industry ministry said a total of 282 licenses had been conditionally assigned to 15 companies.