TORONTO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Shares of Canada's top threewireless telecom companies slipped on Thursday after a businesstelevision channel reported that three foreign operators haveconsidered bidding in an upcoming spectrum auction, citing anunidentified source.
BCE Inc fell 1.7 percent to C$43.49, RogersCommunications Inc slipped 1.2 percent to C$42.95 andTelus Corp was off 1 percent at C$33.15, while thebroader market was also lower.
The trio control a combined 90 percent of Canada's wirelessindustry and would come under enormous pressure if a largeglobal player were to enter the lucrative industry.
The Business News Network report said AT&T Inc,Norway's Telenor ASA and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc had looked at bidding in the auction - for which initialbids are due next week - but did not say whether any of thecompanies had decided to participate.
The companies did not immediately respond to requests forcomment.
"In reality, we wonder if there really is much foreigninterest," Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose wrote in a noteto clients in response to the report.
He said the strong position of established operators thatoffer television, fixed-line phone and Internet services as wellas wireless, the high cost of entry to a mature market andregulatory uncertainty were headwinds for a possible entrant.
The homegrown stocks slumped 4 to 10 percent on June 26 onreports that U.S. giant Verizon Communications wasconsidering an entrance.
"Although today's reaction is muted compared to the June26 selloff, it suggests that investors remain a little waryabout the prospect of foreign players with deep pockets enteringCanada and taking a slice of the wireless pie from the BigThree," said Elvis Picardo, a strategist at Global Securities inVancouver.
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Richard Chang)
Vodafone (VOD)