Jean-Francois Mezei@jfmezei@mstdn.ca
Correction on previous posts:
Rogers offered to buy Shaw's original AWS spectrum in 2013, pending expiration of 5 year moratorium .
Government immediatly changed policy to ignore the 5 year sunset on prohibituion of such transactions. (impacting Telus buying Mobilicity and sending later into CCAA).
Early 2015: Spectrum auction for 700MHz, AWS-3 and 2500 MHz resulted in remaining new entrants having 25% of spectrum in Canada, and the minister then declared mission accomplished and removed the band that had been indefinitely extended beyond contracted 5 years.
Mobilicity entertained bids with Rogers-Telus bidding against each other. Rogers won with $465m. (blocked Telus-Mobilicity in 2013 was $380m).
Rogers puchased Mobilicity and Shaw's AWS spectrum but with convoluted spectrum exchanges with Wind.
(Shaw would eventually buy Wind to save it from bankruptcy).
So the Rogers-Shaw was NOT approved prior to minister changing rules to ban Telus-Mobilicity,
Jean-Francois Mezei@jfmezei@mstdn.ca
Mobilicity saga:
Minister tells Telus and Rogers that the buyer of Mobilicity must give some spectrum to Wind as requirememt for approval.
Wind tells Telus that a contract with Rogers prevents it from accepting spectrum from Telus.
Telus goes to government and offer to return spectrum to IC and IC could then distribute to whomever it wants (aka Wind).
Industry Canada issues letter to Telus saying it might take 12 weeks to approve such a scheme.
Telus drops out of bidding, Rogers wins,
Industry Canada approves Rogers-Shaw-Mobilicity-Wind four-some same day.
Amazing the soap opera material one learns in court decisions 🙂