He added in the past, competition in Canada was usually a "two way race" between Ericsson of Sweden and Nortel Networks Corp., which is headquartered near Toronto.

Surtees said the upgrade to CDMA would help Bell and Telus compete with companies that bought spectrum in Industry Canada's auctions earlier this year.

"The timing is interesting given that spectrum action will introduce at least one or two major newcomers in most territories within about a year or so," he said. "This allows Bell and Telus to be on par with what we would expect a newcomer to go with HSPA speed right out of the gate."

He added it puts both companies in position to offer Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology as a fourth-generation wireless standard.

"It seems to set WiMAX and LTE as two different versions of 4G, with perhaps different markets and different market needs," Surtees said. "It's looking like LTE will be favored by incumbent or existing wireless carriers in larger developed markets. WiMAX is being embraced by new entrants in underdeveloped or undeveloped wireless markets."