MARKHAM, ON – Toronto-area telecom Iristel Inc. is crediting the CRTC and Primus Canada for helping it to restore telephone service to approximately 75,000 Canadian subscribers of American VoIP provider NetTalk.
Iristel cut off access to its network to NetTalk on January 15, alleging that the Florida-based reseller owed it more than $2 million for almost two years-worth of unpaid bills. This left thousands of Canadian NetTalk customers without full service and with questions over whether their phone numbers would be lost.
The Canadian CLEC said Thursday that NetTalks’s Canadian customers can now receive calls and port their phone numbers to other service providers, if they wish, thanks to a new deal with Primus Canada. Under that deal, Primus will serve NetTalk subscribers and pay Iristel a portion of what NetTalk is obligated to pay Primus, according to the Iristel news release. Primus’ bankruptcy proceedings will not impact this arrangement, said Iristel president and CEO Samer Bishay.
“With the phone numbers released to end users, every customer would be wise to look at reputable service providers, many offering discounts to NetTalk subscribers”, said Bishay, in the release. “Given the history and stability of NetTalk, customers should do some basic research to determine if they want to port their number elsewhere or not. There is no guarantee Primus will not have the same problems with NetTalk as we had with them not paying their suppliers.”
Iristel said that CRTC rules prevent it from communicating directly with resellers’ customers without special dispensation from the Commission. While the CRTC doesn't typically get involved in commercial disputes, the carrier said that the Regulator made an exception in this case.
“But we also hope this situation where a reseller totally disregards the rules and regulations of Canadian laws will lead to some changes in the CRTC rules”, added Bishay.
