Are they drunk? Despite 60 new bids on other licences, the auction took a step back in total revenue this morning in round 44 as Quebecor withdrew, once again, a $97M for 35d, 10Mhz in the Toronto Area in round 44. As we reported, Quebecor placed this $97M bid on 35d in round 41 after withdrawing their bid of $97M in round 37 which they had placed earlier. In 46, they just bought it back. again. For 97Million.
What looks to be happening is that each of the bidders, especially entrants, appear to have a fixed budget each are trying to crowd as many good licences under as they can. The bidding chart looks like tick tock as bidders hand back and forth blocks of spectrum each time a little more expensive than the last.
The Canadian AWS spectrum at very nearly 3.5B is already selling for 2 to 6 times as high as the US AWS.
Why so much? Canada is seen by outsiders as an attractive market with low (by global standards) wireless penetration, relatively low competitive environment with high a price umbrella and “straightforward” (read lax) regulatory environment.
Another dangerous possibility is a phenomenon called winner’s curse.
