Verizon's exit leaves Harper with tricky wireless file

With the deadline to sign up for a spectrum auction looming and a major U.S. company out of the running, it looks doubtful anyone will burst onto the scene to compete against Bell, Telus and Rogers.

So with Verizon out, what now for a Conservative government that has long staked its ground on getting a fourth player into Canada's wireless market?

Companies have until Sept. 17 to put down a deposit to participate in the auction of wireless spectrum, which will be held in January.

One route might be to delay the auction an option Industry Minister James Moore's office says it isn't considering.

'Thesearen't milk.There's no best-before date on [wireless] spectrum.' Telecom analyst Iain Grant

Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose says putting off the auction would be a politically tricky move since it has already been postponed.

"I think that's politically very, very difficult to do. The government has already delayed the auction once," he said.

Indeed, the consumer-oriented Conservatives have already been in the awkward position of being pitted against private companies who claim the auction process was rigged to favour foreign competitors over Canadian incumbents.

So the government may instead look at regulating things such as roaming fees, Ghose said.

Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asked cellphone companies for data on their roaming fees. It will eventually fall to the commission to decide whether to regulate roaming rates if it finds companies are gouging consumers or limiting their choices.

The government could use such a decision to its advantage, Ghose said.

"I think the only obvious alternative is to blame the incumbents and perhaps try to micro manage the industry, especially on emotive issues like, 'I went to Mexico and I got a $500 bill,"' he said.

The majors, Rogers, Telus and Bell, havealready seen a stock bouncein the wake of theVerizon announcement that it isn't interested in the Canadian market.

Telecom analyst Iain Grant of the SeaBoard Group says while the Harper government hasn't shown itself to be totally against regulation, it generally favours using market forces to create consumer interest.

Other options

More likely, Grant says, is that the government will let the auction go ahead as planned and save a decision on any leftover spectrum for a later date.

"You have two other blocks available in regional markets across the country, and it's quite possible that they may or may not be all sold," Grant said.

"But these aren't milk. There's no best-before date on spectrum. It's more like Rembrandt. If Sothebys doesn't sell that Old Master for what they want to sell it for, they put it back in the vault and try again to sell it another time."

The Australian government did just that earlier this year during its own spectrum auction. The Harper government may take its cues from Down Under.

"If the auction takes place, and there's some 700 megahertz spectrum left over, as there was recently in Australia, the government will then review its policy and try to find a different way of using the spectrum asset to help the incent the creation of a new carrier," Grant said.

Moore wasn't immediately available for an interview Tuesday. His spokeswoman said the spectrum auction will go ahead as planned.

"The rules for the upcoming spectrum auction were designed, well in advance, to create the right conditions so that consumers benefit," Jessica Fletcher said in an email.

"The result of the auction will be positive for Canadian consumers, regardless of outcome, because the rules were designed with their interests up front."