Canada Radio Spectrum Auction Finishes - Raises C$4.25 Billion

The Canadian government's auction of wireless spectrum raised a total of C$4.25 billion when it ended after 331 rounds Monday, according to Industry Canada's Web site.

The amount raised is considerably larger than the C$1.5 billion many industry analysts had predicted, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported earlier. Industry Minister Jim Prentice had said before the auction that proceeds would be used to pay down national debt, but declined to say where the additional funds will go.

The auction was designed to encourage new competitors for the major players - Rogers Communications, BCE's Bell Canada and Telus - and reserved 40% of the new spectrum for them. The biggest winner among potential new entrants was Toronto-based Globalive Communications, which currently sells home phone and internet service under the Yak brand.

Rogers topped the list with bids totaling C$999.37 million. Telus was in second place with bids of C$879.89 million followed by Bell Mobility Inc. with C$740.93 million, according to a summary on the auction web site.

New entrants included Globalive and Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless.

The auction opened May 27.

Web site: http: http://agora.ic.gc.ca

(Nirmala Menon of Dow Jones NewsWires in Ottawa contributed to this report.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 21st July 2008