When companies submitted applications last week to bid in Canada’s upcoming 700 MHz auction, the public didn’t get to see the size of the deposits. That would help understand the possible strategies of each of the companies. So we don’t really know which of the applicants are planning to bid nationally versus regionally; we don’t know which companies will go after which blocks. Four of the five paired blocks are called prime, because they align with AT&T’s B & C blocks or Verizon’s C1 & C2 blocks in the US. The A block is the remaining paired block and there are two unpaired blocks, D & E that are also available. Opening bids for those unpaired blocks is about half the cost per MHz compared to the paired blocks.
A story in Ars Technica reports that AT&T plans to use its D & E blocks for LTE broadcast – video streaming – to help deal with mass viewing events such as the Super Bowl or March Madness.
Those two “non-prime” blocks just got a little more valuable. Will the major carriers seek to add the D & E blocks to their arsenals?
What will be the impact on smaller fixed wireless players that may have hoped to acquire lower cost licensed spectrum?