AWS: Rules favoring newcomers could hurt consumers, says report

MONTREAL – Advanced wireless spectrum auction rules that favour new entrants would certainly drop cellular prices in the short term – but such rules may also damage Canadian consumers in the long run, says a new paper published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Montreal. The rules for the 2008 auction are expected to be released by Industry Canada before Christmas, with the auction to happen early in the new year. The paper’s authors, University of Toronto economics professor Frank Mathewson, and associate principal at CRA International, Andrew Tepperman, say that any company wanting to play in...