Wirelessnorth.ca

Well it’s finally done. More detailed analysis to come, but here’s your quick download of Canada’s 4.25 Billion Dollar AWS spectrum auction:

Top Bidders:

Rogers: Big red was the biggest spender in this auction going right to the precipice of 1 Billion dollars to take almost the entire A block, 20MHz of new spectrum coast to coast.

Bell/Telus: Between them Bell and Telus split the E and F blocks for 30MHz of contiguous spectrum nearly in every province with exception of Manitoba and Saskatchewan where only Telus won spectrum. These two are expected to continue their network sharing arrangement to exploit this new AWS spectrum nationally.

Quebecor: (aka Videotron) shut out all the other new entrants in Quebec to take all 40MHz of set-aside spectrum. Quebecor gained a foothold outside of Quebec with 10MHz across a good part of southern and eastern Ontario (including Toronto). Quebecor and Globalive are likely to be partnering to build out a national network.

Globalive: Winning 10MHz in every province except Quebec, Globalive (Yak) is your new national cell carrier. They also landed a little extra, 20MHz over Toronto which they’ll no doubt put to good use.

Shaw: Shaw landed 20MHz of the West from BC to Manitoba, the exception being only 10 in Saskatchewan. What they’ll do with it, or how aggressively they’ll roll out services remains to be seen.

Manitoba Telecom (MTS): After almost backing out entirely MTS hung on to 20MHz in Manitoba, more than enough to be a regional player in the cell phone business.

Sasktel: finished by fighting off nearly all comers to take the largest share (30MHz) of wireless space in Canada’s most trapezoidal province.

Data A/V (DAVE Wireless): John Bitove‘s scrappy wireless startup grabbed 10MHz in Ontario and nearly the breadth of BC and Alberta.

Bragg: Bragg is the last big winner and set themselves up to be big player in the east with 30MHz across all of atlantic Canada and, interestingly enough some small outposts of spectrum in northern Alberta. We understand there’s a more than a few east coasters in them oil fields these days.

Read also: Every thing you need to know about Canada’s AWS spectrum for more on the spectrum licenses, the special rules for new entrants, what 10MHz is good for etc.