Rogers today announced an agreement that sees it securing an option to buy Shaw Communications’ unused AWS spectrum in 2014. The deal covers spectrum licenses in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario and comes with a price tag of CA$50 million. According to Nadir Mohamed, Rogers’ President and Chief Executive Officer, “We’re investing in spectrum to ensure our customers continue to enjoy the incredibly fast speeds and throughput they crave, while ensuring our continued network leadership.”
The purchase will help Rogers maintain its “network leadership position,” particularly in Western Canada where Rogers has a significant share of the wireless market. It includes 188 million MHz POPs including 20MHz across B.C., Alberta and Manitoba and 10MHz in select B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario markets.
Rogers will be in a position to buy the spectrum in question once the transaction is approved by Industry Canada and the Competition Bureau. It could be late 2014 before the purchase closes. The option is set to expire in March 2015 but could be extended “in certain circumstances.”
The announcement comes ahead of the 700MHz spectrum auction set to take place sometime in the first half of this year.
Shaw announced in September 2011 that it would not build out a wireless network as originally planned. Shortly after, it announced plans to build a managed Wi-Fi network.
Read more: Rogers