Appeared in the Toronto Star on June 23, 2008 as Spectrum Auction Bonanza Allows for Proactive Thinking Each week millions of Canadians buy lottery tickets as they "imagine the freedom" of hitting it big. While the federal government may not have won the lottery, it has certainly hit the jackpot […]
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Spectrum Auction Underway This Week
Canadian Press covers the beginning of the AWS spectrum auctions that opens this week.
Canadian Spectrum Auction Bidders
Industry Canada has the complete list, Canadian Press offers an overview, while the National Post has extensive coverage of some of the major players here, here, and here.
Cellphone Spectrum Set-Aside Simply Step One
My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) focuses on the recent government spectrum allocation announcement. I argue that new wireless competition will be welcome news to consumers, however, it represents only part of the solution. The day before the Prentice press conference, U.S.-based Verizon Wireless shocked the industry by announcing that next year it will adopt an "open network" approach that will remove the restrictive walled garden that typifies the incumbent carriers. Instead, its customers will be permitted to use any device and any application that meets minimum technical standards. The Verizon decision comes just weeks after Google introduced a partnership with leading U.S. carriers such as Sprint and T-Mobile to create the Open Handset Alliance, which will similarly enable consumers to use devices that are fully open to new innovation and third-party programs.
This rush toward an open cellphone market stands in sharp contrast to years of restricted networks that left decisions about new devices and functionality strictly in the hands of a few dominant cellphone providers.