Oil in the Ether: A Critical History of Spectrum Auctions in Canada

Abstract

This article offers a critical history of the growth of the auctioning paradigm as a method of radio spectrum assignment in Canada. It establishes the growing importance of spectrum access as a primary conduit for computer-mediated communication worldwide, and it demonstrates how the rise of auctioning fundamentally challenges the administrative model that has been used for Canadian spectrum assignment for decades. The key junctures raised in the historical development of spectrum auctions include the pioneering theoretical debates of the 1950s, the fundamental changes to telecommunications in the 1980s, and Canada’s gradual acceptance of auctioning as an assignment mechanism in the 1990s. The research is based upon historical studies and scholarly publications as well as primary documents from the Department of Communications and Industry Canada.

Keywords: spectrum, wireless, broadband