CORNER BROOK and WHITEHORSE – Iristel Inc., a Markham-based company that includes Ice Wireless, announced yesterday it has been awarded eight blocks of 3500 MHz spectrum, despite what it says is “a groundless and drawn-out Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) hinderance.”
Iristel currently holds licences for low-band spectrum in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, rural Ontario, rural Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. It was hoping to acquire more blocks of mid-band spectrum than it did during the recent 3500 MHz spectrum auction, according to a press release. However, the company has stated it was unable to because the CRA has withheld more than $80 million from it.
“While we’re delighted with these eight blocks, the CRA has deprived us of potentially landing 80 other blocks that would serve hundreds more rural communities, many of which are Indigenous,” says Samer Bishay, president and CEO of Iristel and Ice Wireless, in the press release. “We laud Ottawa for setting aside spectrum for competitors by preventing the Big Three wireless oligarchs from bidding on it, but we question the CRA’s draconian tactics. On the one hand, the Federal Government is wisely setting policy to bolster competition, and on the other hand, its tax department is doing the opposite.”
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