Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice officially kicked off the auction of advanced wireless services spectrum Tuesday and said early signs suggest it will be successful, though it's difficult to judge how the slowing economy will affect the final results.

The auction began earlier in the day and preliminary indications point to "excellent" participation, Prentice said at a brief news conference.

He said 24 bidders have been financially prequalified to participate. There is no fixed conclusion date but he estimated it could take 30 days and he expects to announce the results later in the summer.

Prentice said the auction will lead to greater competition and lower prices.

"Enhanced competition is an important element of strengthening and sustaining Canada's economy and is certainly consistent with this government's overall economic strategy," he said.

There are 292 blocks of spectrums up for auction in a "very open, transparent process," he said. Bids are made through a secure online site.

"Early indications are that they (bidders) represent a broad range of capacity from across Canada and that the auction should be successful," Prentice said. "Either individually or collectively they would have the capacity to increase competition and increase choice and lower prices for consumers in Canada."

He said he wouldn't speculate on whether Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MBT.T) will take part. A partnership of Manitoba Telecom, CPP Investment Board and Blackstone Capital Partners to explore the opportunity of creating a joint venture to bid as a new entrant has collapsed. Manitoba Telecom said on May 22 that the partners had agreed to end their talks and dissolve the consortium.

"MTS Allstream is but one player and we certainly hope they'll be part of the bidding process but I'm not going to speculate on their capacity or their results," Prentice said.

Source:Dow Jones