Canada launches long-awaited auction of 5G spectrum

Hanging cubes display 5G logos at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo

VANCOUVER, June 15 (Reuters) - Canada is set to begin a hotly anticipated auction of the mobile telecommunications bandwidth necessary for 5G rollout, one that was delayed more than a year by the pandemic.

The 3,500 MHz is a spectrum companies need to provide 5G, which requires more bandwidth to expand internet capabilities.The auction, initially scheduled for June 2020, is expected to take several weeks with Canadian government selling off 1,504 licenses in 172 service areas.

Smaller operators are going into the auction complaining that recent regulatory rulings have further tilted the scales in the favour of the country's three biggest telecoms companies - BCE (BCE.TO), Telus (T.TO) and Rogers Communications Inc (RCIb.TO) - which together control around 90% of the market as a share of revenue. read more

Canadian mobile and internet consumers, meanwhile, have complained for years that their bills are among the world's steepest. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has threatened to take action if the providers did not cut bills by 25%.

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