Today is the day that reply comments are due for the Industry Canada consultation on the advanced wireless spectrum auction rules.
The process was started in February and the first round of comments came in last month. The issues were canvassed in an exciting debate on the final afternoon of The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit.
Of course, a big question mark out there is how will TELUS address its comments. It had been opposed to new entrant concessions other than during its 4-day flirtation with the idea of acquiring Bell, when TELUS said:
Should Telus’ acquisition of BCE proceed, we believe that new wireless spectrum should be set aside for new entrants to ensure that Canada continues to have a third wireless network competitor.
We would also agree to certain other areas of support … to ensure that any emerging third player within the wireless industry was allowed to gain access to some of our tower infrastructure and was allowed to roam on favourable conditions.
We believe there are clear remedies to ensure vibrant and sustainable competition without divesting the mobile networks of either company.
Will TELUS revert to its former position? Has the prospect of wireless consolidation irreparably damaged the prospects of an unfettered auction?
My view is that Industry Canada should stay the course and avoid the temptation to tamper with an open auction. As a wise man once said to me, government has to stop trying to do indirectly what it can achieve directly.
A tangential approach to a problem only leads to a hypothetical solution. If there are concerns about possible industry consolidation, about lack of competitive behaviour, there are tools for direct intervention.
We’ll look at the instruments of government review in tomorrow’s posting.