The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that Ottawa wants to give new entrants to Canada's wireless market a leg up against the Big Three providers when it auctions off the next block of wireless spectrum. The Post's Emily Jackson writes that on Friday, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada launched a consultation on the framework to auction spectrum licences in the 600 MHz band. Of the 70 MHz of spectrum available, the ministry proposed setting aside 30 MHz -- 43 per cent -- for facilities-based wireless providers that have less than 10 per cent of the national wireless subscriber market. That includes regional carriers Shaw Communications' Freedom Mobile and Quebecor's Videotron. However, it excludes incumbents BCE, Rogers Communications and Telus, which each serve about 30 per cent of Canada's 30 million wireless subscribers. Set-asides are "used to address issues of market power," the ministry stated. "There is a risk that competition in the post-auction marketplace could suffer without measures to facilitate regional carrier's access to spectrum," it stated, noting the Competition Bureau's recent conclusion that the presence of regional carriers results in lower prices.