Posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Ottawa Reveals Cellphone Spectrum Bidders
TheStar.com
Several of the foreign players eager to gain a toehold in Canada’s booming wireless sector were revealed by Ottawa yesterday – except for the one mystery firm that many had been talking about.
Industry Canada late yesterday released a list of “qualified bidders” and their financial partners for an upcoming auction of wireless spectrum that is to be held in May.
The updated list, which includes 27 different bidders, revealed that XM Canada founder John Bitove’s efforts to gain entry to the industry will be backed by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen through his private investment fund Vulcan Inc.
“There was some conjecture late last week that one or two of the proposed independent bidders may fail to meet the bidding criteria,” Greg MacDonald, an analyst at National Bank Financial, said in a note yesterday before the details about the auction’s bidders were released.
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