The four winners of national licences for Personal Communications Services are developing their communication and branding strategies in what is likely to be a highly competitive market.

Late last month, Clearnet PCS of Pickering, Ont. and MicroCell Network of Montreal were each awarded licences for 30 MHz of spectrum, while Rogers Cantel Mobile and the regional shareholders of Mobility Personacom Canada got 10 MHz licences.

pcs will be targeted primarily to the consumer market although the new licence holders are unsure whether the service and phones will be sold through proprietary outlets or wider distribution channels such as Bell’s Liberti and Cantel’s Amigo cellular products.

The licensees are expected to invest more than $3 billion to build national wireless communications networks over the next five years, with the rollout of services to begin in major centres in 1997.

pcs will operate at a new frequency of 2 GHz (gigahertz), which is equal to 2,000 megahertz. Cellular systems operate at 800 MGz.

Of the four companies winning pcs licences, all but MicroCell, which had an experimental network only, were offering cellular or paging services already.

In June, Clearnet, an 11-year-old company that operates a two-way radio network, will launch a business extension of its services called Enhanced Specialized Mobil Radio network.

Rick Seifeddine, Clearnet’s director of advertising and communications, says he will be naming an agency of record for the network next month.

Seifeddine says if the new agency is capable of addressing both business and consumer segments, it may also handle the pcs assignment.

Cantel’s pcs advertising will be handled by its lead agency, Gee Jeffery & Partners of Toronto.

Personacom expects to use Cossette Communication-Marketing, Bell Mobility’s agency.