Look Communications is to put itself up for sale. The struggling wireless operator says it will hold a special shareholders meeting in January to approve an ‘orderly sale’ of some or all its digital TV and Internet access businesses.

The big prize — to be eyed by Canadian cable and phone giants in the mobile phone business — is Look’s licensed spectrum in Ontario and Quebec that covers a market of around 18 million consumers.

Look CEO Gerald T. McGoey says the company does not have the capital to use the frequencies and build out next-generation mobile, VoIP or high-speed Internet access services on its own.

The value of those frequencies is estimated at around $100 million, and could prove valuable to any new entrant into the mobile phone market, or an existing player such as Rogers Communications or BCE looking to keep the spectrum out of the hands of a potential competitor.

A potential buyer of Look assets would also have tax losses to utilize.

Unique Broadband Systems, Look’s majority shareholder with 51% of outstanding stock, is to vote in favor of the auction plans.

Look launched in 1998 with a CRTC broadcast licence for a wireless service using MDS (multipoint distribution system) technology to reach TV viewers. But it has since struggled through bankruptcy and forced sales to fend off competition from wire-line cable and phone operators.