Results of Canada’s recent AWS auction look to stir up competitio...

Telus and Bell Canada, which spent 61 percent of all money raised. But the sale also seems likely to stir new rivalries, SeaBoard said. New entrant Globalive, which got a 10 MHz national license, likely will pursue a prepaid model like that of MetroPCS in the U.S., the analyst firm said. Globalive suggests it will be operational in key markets in Q2 2009, they said. Globalive lacks coverage in southern Quebec, which shouldn’t be a problem given that the company has mandated roaming privileges on incumbent networks, they said. Globalive might consider partnerships to build a national brand, they said. Potential partners include Cogeco, Jaguar Wireless, SSI Micro and MTS Allstream. MTS is an “ideal partner” due to its large base of enterprise customers and a national fiber network with dense urban deployment, SeaBoard said. Cable companies also are angling to enter the wireless game, SeaBoard said. In particular, Videotron, with nearly a million cable phone customers, stands to benefit, analysts said. “Each cable telephone household represents a potential of three added Videotron wireless customers -- exciting times at Videotron,” they said. And the company’s ties to Canada’s largest French- language TV network, Quebec’s largest music distributor and the Sun Media newspapers create “significant” potential for synergies, they said. SeaBoard was intrigued by the extent of bidding for the G block, given that this spectrum range is unique to Canada, Denmark and the U.S. No equipment ecosystem exists for the spectrum, which doesn’t work with new AWS handsets deployed for T-Mobile and MetroPCS U.S. networks, analysts said. SeaBoard believes the spectrum could best be used for cellular backhaul, it said.