MONTREAL - Almost $3 billion in bids have been placed in the federal government's wireless spectrum auction, according to figures posted on Industry Canada's website.
The top bidders for licences are established players Rogers Communications, Telus, Bell Mobility Inc., and upstart Globalive Wireless.
The auction is designed to bring more competition to Canada's cellphone market.
The federal government is auctioning 105 megahertz of radio spectrum, which is used to carry the signals of cellphones.
In order to encourage competition, the government has set aside 40 megahertz for new players, who can also bid on the 65 megahertz in spectrum open to the incumbents.
A total of just more than $2.9 billion in bids had been placed by midday Friday with Rogers leading the way with $661.8 million in bids for 44 licences, the website indicates.
Telus had bid $622.6 million for 53 licences and Bell Mobility had bid $404.1 million for 49 licences. Toronto-based Globalive, trying to break into the cellphone market, had bid $374.3 for 13 licences.
The federal government has said money raised from the online spectrum auction will be used to pay down the debt.
