and Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien. In 1978, future Sirius XM Radio founder David Margolese dropped out of university and founded the paging company Canadian Telecom. Foreseeing that cellular wireless technology would be used for more than simply voice calls, Margolese proposed a plan to obtain a license for Canada’s cellular phone rights. At the time, there were no such licenses or commercial cellular services in existence, as the wireless technology was still in the laboratory and experimental. Needing significant financing, he approached Rogers Communications, which was owned by Ted Rogers, to partner with him. Rogers ultimately joined with Margolese, Marc Belzberg of First City Financial and Telemedia founder Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien to form Cantel, which Margolese named after Canadian Telecom. In 1984, the group was granted Canada’s national cellular license. Cantel launched service on July 1, 1985. In 1986, Ted Rogers purchased a controlling stake in Cantel, which was at the time Canada's only national supplier of cellular telephone service. Over the next four years, Rogers bought out his partners, becoming the sole owner of Cantel. Cantel was later renamed Cantel AT&T, Rogers Cantel AT&T and Rogers AT&T Wireless; in December 2003, the company became known by its current name, Rogers Wireless, which led to Rogers purchasing AT&T’s 34% stake in the company for $1.8 billion the following year. Spectrum Purchases Through spectrum auctions, Rogers has made the following purchases of spectrum: Networks Rogers operates GSM, UMTS, LTE, and 5G NR networks in all of Canada's provinces and offers roaming in Canada's territories. AMPS Rogers previously operated an AMPS/D-AMPS network in the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands in Canada. The network was shut down on May 31, 2007. GSM Since 2002, the company's 2G GSM network with EDGE has operated in Canada. It provides compatibility for GSM-based devices, including those frequently used by international travellers. However, this technology is limited to speeds up to 236 kilobits per second, which is only about four times the speed of dial-up. The 1900 MHz PCS network was shut down on June 7, 2021. The 850 MHz was retired on December 31, 2021 for IoT devices. Mobile Phones can still connect to the 850MHz 2G GSM network in most markets as of September 2022. UMTS In 2006, Rogers became the first Canadian carrier to operate a 3G UMTS/HSPA network, which was upgraded to HSPA+ in 2009. Enhancements included download speeds of up