The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition Providence Equity Partners is in discussions to acquire a share of Wind Mobile. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe says Providence, which has a record of investing in wireless communications, could provide Wind Mobile with the backing needed to acquire spectrum so it can expand. The Canadian government has been pushing aggressively for a fourth national provider to compete with Rogers Communications, BCE and Telus. The federal government's latest effort on that front was to announce a surprise wireless spectrum auction that will be held in March, 2015, in which 60 per cent of the new block of spectrum would be reserved for smaller players holding less than 10 per cent of the national market. Wind Mobile chief executive officer Anthony Lacavera said last month the company needs to acquire more mobile-phone spectrum to take on the Big Three. He has also said Wind needs a $400-million to $500-million investment to upgrade its network to long-term evolution technology, better known as LTE. Wind Mobile had 735,000 subscribers at the end of May, short of the company's target for 1.5 million in its first three years after beginning operations in December, 2009.