Canada board in bid for wireless

The scheme has joined forces with Manitoba Telecom Services and The Blackstone Group to take part in the upcoming Advanced Wireless Services spectrum auction.

The consortium made a $340m (£170m) deposit in the form of letters of credit to auction organiser Industry Canada.
The auction, which is scheduled to begin on May 27, 2008, is being conducted to foster greater competition and innovation in the Canadian wireless market.

If successful the scheme would own approximately one-third of the new entity.

The scheme said in a statement: “Ownership and governance of the new entity will comply with Canadian ownership and control rules for the telecommunications sector and AWS auction rules.”

If the consortium is successful in acquiring spectrum licenses, André Tremblay and a team of veteran managers with expertise in the wireless telecom industry will manage the new wireless company.

Tremblay was previously the founding chief executive officer of Microcell, operator of the Fido brand wireless service. He and his team have extensive experience launching a competitive new entrant in the Canadian wireless market.

CPPIB, and the other parties, said they would not provide further comment regarding their plans or strategies until such time as they had finalised their discussions and executed definitive agreements.