Rogers opts out of C$2.1bn Canadian AWS-3 auction

The Canadian government has announced the results of its AWS-3 (1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz) spectrum auction and they reveal that Rogers, which is Canada’s leading operator by subscription, decided not to buy any of this batch of bands.

C$2.1 billion Canadian dollars were spend on the latest tranche of spectrum, with a key feature of the auction being that a large chunk of it was set aside for smaller players and new entrants. Outside of the big three Canadian operators, Wind, Videotron and Bragg all grabbed some share.

According to Ovum’s WCIS service Rogers is the Canadian market leader, with Bell and Telus close second. Between them they account for around 90% of all subscriptions so the Canadian regulator clearly sees there’s some room for greater competition. Rogers spent big on 700MHz spectrum a year ago, so it decided to leave it to the other two majors to scrap over what spectrum had been made available to them.

“Spectrum is a vital public resource and it is the government’s responsibility to allocate it in a way that encourages robust competition and choice in the wireless market,” said James Moore, Canada’s Minister of Industry. “The result of the AWS-3 auction supports our government’s policies of delivering more choice, lower prices and better service on the latest technologies.”

Here’s the summary of the action results.

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