The Canadian authorities are set to auction two blocks of spectrum “once potential bidders have the available cash and foreign funding issues are clarified”, according to a Reuters report. Apparently Tony Clement, the country’s Minister of Industry, said that talks are already under way with the heads of “major telecom companies,” especially with regard to their ability to raise money to pay for licenses. The plan is to offer 700MHz spectrum made available by the digital television switch-over “by the end of 2012,” with a tranche of 2.5GHz frequencies also offered. The new allocations will pave the way for the launch of next-generation networks in the country, with market-leader Rogers Communications already trialing LTE technology.

A significant issue that will need to be resolved is the position with regard to foreign investors participating in the auction, due to Canadian regulation which limits foreign ownership of an operator to 20 percent of voting shares, and 46.7 percent of direct and indirect economic holdings. The country has already seen some controversy in this regard, with Globalive partnering with Egypt’s Orascom Telecom to buy spectrum and launch WIND Mobile. Reuters reports that Clement believes the foreign ownership issues and the spectrum auction are “not really divorced,” because operators will want to know what access to capital they will have before participating in the process.