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Freedom’s role in injecting competition could make it harder for the Big Three to argue that smaller players shouldn’t get an advantage in the upcoming auction for wireless spectrum, said Kaan Yigit, president of Solutions Research Group.

“This episode doesn’t help the Big Three in spectrum auction matters by drawing attention to consumer demand for lower data prices, but makes the case for supporting newer entrants,” Yigit said.

The federal government is poised to announce the structure of the next spectrum auction early next year. Innovation, Science and Economic Development proposed setting aside 43 per cent of the 600-MHz spectrum for new entrants such as Freedom and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron. Each has about 3 per cent of the national market share, whereas the Big Three providers each control about 30 per cent.

The government proposed set-asides as a way to “address issues of market power,” given that prices are notably lower in regions with four strong players. But the Big Three players argue set-asides inflate the price of spectrum by artificially limiting supply for the national carriers. That cost is ultimately passed to consumers, they say, and is unjustified given Shaw and Quebecor can afford to compete without extra privileges.

For it’s part, Shaw said it needs the spectrum in order to upgrade its network to compete with the Big Three on their faster, more reliable networks. These low-band airwaves are critical to build networks that can handle ever-increasing data consumption.