Wirelessnorth.ca

May 28th, 2008Spectrum Auction: Round 2, more bidders show their hand

We’re into round two of the auction and things are just starting to get interesting. Bidders who were on the sidelines in round one have jumped in to make use of their hefty deposits. The total sum of winning bids is up to 560M just an incremental bump from earlier this morning. But the big news is that GlobalLive and Rogers are moving up the ranks. GlobalLive (think Yak communications) now has the largest number of winning bids. For the moment.

Don’t read too much into these stats just yet. Many of the largest licences are still tied with multiple bidders at or near the opening bid amount, with the current determination of “high bidder” being seriously arbitrary. So watch the results flip flop around for the next several rounds as the players increment their bids. This thing could go on for a while.

The only thing that is for certain is that the wireless industry will look a lot a lot different by the time the auction is done. Which combination of Quebecor, Shaw, or GlobalLive or Salvator Tirabassi will remain standing in the set aside spectrum? Will the big 3 fight it out or play nice in the remaining spectrum. Will the city of Thunder bay hang on to their tiny slice in their hometown? Will anyone bid on PEI?

Stay tuned to WirelessNorth.ca for the daily play by play. Looking forward to it. Happy hunting bidders.

UPDATE: these figures represent totals of “Value of Standing High and Current Bids” not just high bids which would look to include some double counting or would indicate the total bids placed across all licences so far winning or otherwise. We should have a clearer picture of who’s staking out how much and where as the auction progresses a few more rounds.

A wireless guy

Guys, Is there a way to now what they are bidding for? Like there are several bands and two different tiers that divide the spectrum into several different areas.
fred

Look has already have some licenses, can they sell or patner with one of these guys?
tks
http://wirelessnorth.ca WirelessNorth

As far as I understand, Look as a bunch of licences in the 2.5-2.9 and 3.5 bands some of which could be used for mobile (and wimax). Thus far though they've been sitting on it and may not have the capital or business case to do much with it. The main difficulty with Wimax is that the equipment and standards (and compatible laptops) are lagging in the market. Time will tell if Look, or someone they sell the spectrum to, can make something of it.
fred

Look has already have some licenses, can they sell or patner with one of these guys?
tks
http://wirelessnorth.ca WirelessNorth

As far as I understand, Look as a bunch of licences in the 2.5-2.9 and 3.5 bands some of which could be used for mobile (and wimax). Thus far though they've been sitting on it and may not have the capital or business case to do much with it. The main difficulty with Wimax is that the equipment and standards (and compatible laptops) are lagging in the market. Time will tell if Look, or someone they sell the spectrum to, can make something of it.

May 28th, 2008Spectrum Auction: Round 2, more bidders show their hand

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