Industry Minister Christian Paradis this morning unveiled a series of new measures related to spectrum auctions. The long-overdue 700 MHz spectrum auction will be run in November 2013. A full list of background docs and policies can be found here.
Paradis Announces New Spectrum Auction Measures
March 7, 2013
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Law Bytes
Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age
byMichael Geist

March 30, 2026
Michael Geist
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age

Why maximize value up front for ongoing infrastructure?
Why do we allow the network infrastructure to be integrated with the operator, and on to multi-year contracts with the end user?
Why not accept there being practical limits to building extensive networks, by making that a category unto itself.
Then auction the capacity to what are known as MVNOs (Mobile virtual network operator)
That way we minimize the user price, and maximize the economic value for the country.
It eliminates the conflict of interest. It equalizes the markup on bandwidth between voice, text, and video communication without imposing any preference by the infrastructure owners’ preference to sustain or extend their monpolies in broadcast media or communication.
Oh, and all questions about national security can be put to rest. Infrastructure is designed, owned and maintained by Canadians. When it comes to sales, there should be no restrictions on foreign ownership for reselling a Canadian product/service.
All we did last time was drive up the price of bandwidth for cellular phones and inhibit the competition that was possible — look at Shaw’s big block. Shaw won a huge amount of spectrum at auction, did nothing with it, and flipped it to Roger’s for a profit. All they did to earn that money was preventing competition. If we as a country really thought the spectrum was so valuable, we’d be shutting off a whole lot of space reserved for ignored radio and television broadcasts and selling it for enough money to pay off the national debt.
Ban the big guys
The established guys should have no right to be in this auction . The smaller guys like Wind should have a fair chance to gather spectrum and be able to compete .
Hope this is helpful
Hope it worked!
drivertuner