Finally, there’s some good news for Canadians on the telecom front.

Minister of Industry James Moore announced today that the wireless spectrum in Canada is being expanded and opened up to more competition.

He said in Vancouver today that the government will be making more of the spectrum available via auction to companies – 60 per cent more, in fact.

“Spectrum is essential to power our wireless devices, and our government is making it more available than ever before,” Moore said in a press release. “The end result is that Canadians will benefit from more competition, lower prices and better service in our wireless sector. The Harper Government is committed to delivering competitively-priced wireless services on the latest technologies.”

In order to open up the market to more than the three main players in the Canadian telecom scene, 25 per cent of the available wireless spectrum will be reserved for telecom companies outside of the “big three.”

“That 25 per cent is a real key indicator as to whether Canadian will see new competition and lower prices,” said Josh Tabish, campaign manager for Open Media in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada News.

Tabish said that as it stands prior to the newly-announced auction, Rogers, Bell and Telus control 85 per cent of the available wireless spectrum, and around 93 per cent of the overall market share.

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While it has been argued by some that Canada couldn’t support a fourth wireless provider, a recent blog post by technology law Michael Geist argues (with support from an OECD report) that a fourth provider could provide immediate benefits to consumers. He points to France and England as examples of countries where a fourth player entered the wireless market and resulted in lower fees and more features for consumers.

“Fourth carriers have often been the source of better international roaming offers, forcing the established players to respond by reducing their own prices or enhancing their plans,” Geist wrote. “Similarly, virtual operators have targeted niche markets by expanding access to pre-paid plans more aggressively than established carriers.”

Opening up the wireless spectrum to more competition could allow companies like Ting – a Toronto-based telecom that is currently only operating in the U.S. because of the current market pressures – a fighting chance.

“The CRTC … can now make decisions if companies like WIND or Ting can operate in a level playing field,” Tabish said.

The announcement comes a day after major changes to the Telecommunications Act received royal assent and granted the CRTC new powers to fine big telecommunications companies who don’t act in the best interests of consumers.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Open Media shared that Rogers, Bell and Telus could now face fines for “mistreating Canadians” and engaging in activities that would not offer fair access to services at a fair price.

“Open Media and hundreds and thousands of Canadians ... have been calling for financial penalties for years,” Tabish said.

“The regulator now has teeth they never had before.”

While the CRTC says that they’ll be releasing detailed guidelines in the coming weeks of how they’ll exercise their new powers, Tabish says that companies who go against the regulations set out in the Telecommunications Act could face fines of up to $15 million.

The three amendments to the act that Open Media highlighted include penalizing companies for forcing users into tiers of Internet speed depending on the content they are accessing (essentially maintaining “net neutrality”), making unfair changes to the charges they issue for services, and for blocking competition within the wireless market.

Tabish says he is optimistic about the changes, and is hopeful that with the new powers, the CRTC will be able to make the opening up of the telecommunications market as fair as possible. This will likely include a “use it or lose it” rule, discussed earlier this year, that would prevent companies from buying chunks of the wireless spectrum, and then sitting on it without using it. Earlier this year, Shaw attempted to sell a portion of the wireless spectrum it purchased when it had plans to expand into the telecommunications business. The government intervened when it sought to sell it at a significantly higher rate than it had purchased it for.

“Wireless spectrum is a public resource,” said Tabish. “And should be use in the public’s best interest.”