Canada has pledged to loosen foreign ownership restrictions in its telecoms sector in an apparent bid to curb the dominance of its big three operators: Rogers, Telus and Bell.

Reuters reports that the government will allow non-Canadians to take charge of operators with a market share of 10 percent or less, which would still be valid even if an operator’s share organically grows beyond this threshold.

The country also announced plans to auction-off valuable 700MHz spectrum in the first half of next year (airwaves used in the US for LTE deployments), and later 2500MHz spectrum,  including restrictions on how much the so-called ‘big three' can acquire.

"We are bringing the tools here to ensure we achieve our policy goals—increased competition, robust investment and innovation, and access to the best technology," said Canada’s Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

According to the report, there are five spectrum blocks in each of Canada's 14 regions, but only four are considered 'prime;' the three incumbents can only obtain one of the four prime blocks apiece, effectively reserving 25 percent of the most desirable spectrum for smaller players.

Rogers, Telus and Bell collectively account for around 95 percent of the country’s mobile market, despite a host of new players entering the market following earlier spectrum auctions in 2008.

This led to the introduction of three new players – Globalive's Wind Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity – and allowed cable operators such as Quebecor's Videotron and Shaw Communications to enter the mobile space.

The existing investment rules will remain intact for the incumbent players. They limit foreign ownership of a telecom company to 20 percent of voting shares and indirect control to 46.7 percent.