Wireless spectrum auction results

Well the advanced wireless spectrum auction is over, finally. As for what we'll see once the dust settles and the new companies start operating a year or so from now it's hard to say. Globealive has a full country license and between Shaw, Videon and Eastlink the cable co's could make a go of it as a national carrier. Shaw has so far been the only company that has been very vocal about it's plans with Jim Shaw stating that they planned to be testing by the end of the year and launch in Calgary Mid 2009, with further rollouts planned in Vancouver, Edmonton and then smaller centres. There has been no mention from any of the new carriers as to what they may offer for plans but most TV speculation seems to focus on unlimited data, SMS and Voice for a fixed all in price possibly around $50 a month. That price for that plan would be amazing given the services it would come with, but certainly wouldn't make it a low cost option for people who just want a basic cellphone. We'll have to wait and see what they come up with. With all the furor over the new incoming message charges i'd expect to see some people clammering just to get to a new carrier. At the moment though it's all up in the air I'd expect to see the new carriers to start by naming their services and giving definate plans for a roll out date first then announcing pricing and plans very close to their launch date to prevent the incumbants from being able to make a competing plan right away.