Paul Poutanen

There will be a press release today at Macworld.

How will Roger’s price the data package is the interesting part of this story.

This didn’t happen…. Expect late spring for a new announcement from Rogers.

Well it is in directly from the official government website  Canada is going to allow 40 MHz of bandwidth to be picked up other than the 3 major carriers in Canada. (Rogers, Telus or Bell Mobility)

From the Canadian Press 

In its submission to the industry department, MTS Allstream noted that Canadians pay up to 79 per cent more for wireless services than Americans, a key reason they say that cellphone usage in Canada lags far below that in the U.S. or Europe.

Foreign corporations by themselves will not be able to pick up the bandwidth.  They will have to joint partner with a Canadian Company.

HMMMM

I have a Canadian company…. If you want to partner up, Google, I have a company. I do not have the capital to bid on this spectrum but you do. yah… I’d like that…. Let’s talk.

Boy Howdy! Things are moving fast.

Just in from the Globe and Mail

All eyes will be on whether Ottawa intervenes in what would otherwise be a free-market auction by preventing the big players — Bell, Telus and Rogers — from bidding on part of the spectrum.

Mr. Prentice has so far been mum on whether Ottawa will set aside part of the frequencies up for auction in order to allow new entrants to bid on these without competition from Bell, Rogers or Telus.

Such a move would be contrary to pure free market principles but would be in keeping with the Conservative government’s avowedly populist approach and its focus on consumers. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, for instance, has pressed banks to cut automated banking machine fees and has lobbied retailers to cut prices to reflect the strengthened Canadian dollar.

A potential block of bidding on new spectrum from the big guys!….. Stay tuned….

More here