Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement hinted on Friday that new wireless spectrum auctions could soon be coming to Canada.
The last Canadian wireless auction took place in 2008. It netted the government over CAD$4.2 billion and set the stage for the launch of new carriers Mobilicity, Public Mobile, and WIND Mobile. Existing carriers such as Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless were also able to secure additional licenses.
The move by Canadian television broadcasters from analog to digital is expected to be completed in August 2011, thereby freeing up spectrum (eg, in the 700MHz band) that could then be auctioned off to wireless carriers.
Canada is expected to have over 30 million subscribers by 2014 according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. With global mobile data traffic growth expected to double every year between 2010 and 2014, it also foresees a great deal of pressure being put on existing Canadian wireless infrastructure, requiring additional spectrum to accommodate this growth.