The Canadian government has opened an auction of 292 blocks of spectrum this week as part of a plan to stimulate competition in the country’s mobile industry. 105MHz of spectrum is to be auctioned – 40MHz of this set aside for new entrants – and 24 companies have been given permission to bid. “Early indications are that they [the bidders] represent a broad range of capacity from across Canada and that the auction should be successful,” Canada’s Industry Minister Jim Prentice told reporters yesterday. “Either individually or collectively they would have the capacity to increase competition and increase choice and lower prices for consumers in Canada.” He estimated that the auction could take up to 30 days to complete, with the results announced this summer.

The auction is seen as a threat to Canada’s three largest mobile operators, Rogers, Telus and BCE, which control about 95 percent of the Canadian mobile market by revenue, according to Reuters. However, some analysts have questioned if many of the potential new entrants on the bidders list have the financial muscle to build networks that will compete with the established players on a national basis. One potential new entrant, MTS Allstream (a consortium comprising Manitoba Telecom, CPP Investment Board and Blackstone Capital Partners), was recently wound down and it is unclear if it will take part in the auction at all. Other potential new entrants include Quebecor, and cable and satellite TV company Shaw. Meanwhile, in the US, the FCC is to vote on whether to auction a further 25MHz of spectrum in the 2155-2180MHz ‘Advanced Wireless Services’ band.