There is an auction for mobile wireless spectrum coming up and a consultation paper can be expected from Industry Canada some time before the end of the year.

Expect five issues to be canvassed:

• Should there be a set-aside for new entrants?
• Should a spectrum cap apply?
• Should there be mandated roaming for new entrants to be able to leverage existing networks?
• Should there be mandated tower sharing?
• Should the auction include national / regional / local spectrum?

A set-aside would presume that Industry Canada does not believe that the current industry structure, with 3 facilities based wireless service providers, is sufficiently competitive. It would be interesting to understand how the spectrum branch could reach that kind of conclusion, when the Competition Bureau did not intervene in the Rogers acquisition of Microcell.

That said, we have been somewhat vocal about consumer pricing for mobile wireless, with LD rates and so-called system access fees.

We’ll be covering the consultation more over the coming months.

Light Reading writes about a report from Sanford Bernstein that quashes the view that cable TV companies will be running out of capacity, even when faced with Verizon’s FiOS project.

As I mentioned on Friday, “Indexing and searching video is an interesting problem. User created video content is a start.” Will telcos leverage Google – YouTube technology users as a disruptive approach to video, perhaps based upon video-on-demand?

Canadian Thanksgiving Day thoughts.

Take a look at Kathy Sierra’s post Knocking the exuberance out of employees.

Her view: when asked, companies say they want bold, creative, smart, passionate and independent employees. But often, they actually hire (or develop) cautious, methodical, capable and obedient robots. You’ll enjoy her 16 reasons why robots are the best employees.

Her closing extends to behaviour at home:

And while I’m here… parents do this as well. Admit it. We have all wished that our children (for whom we worked so hard to instill a fierce independence) would be strong-willed, exuberant, questioning–everywhere but at home. I’ve never really wanted Skyler to be a robot, but oh how I’ve wished for a robot mode

Compare her post with Seth Godin’s 50:1. Variations on a theme.

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