YELLOWKNIFE – Another Northwestel competitor is taking issue with that company’s proposal to tie its modernization plan to its parent company’s pending acquisition of Astral Media.
Noting that tangible benefits in such transactions are meant to be directed to Canada’s broadcasting system and not telecommunications carriers, Ice Wireless and Iristel called the move “nothing short of a shell game by Northwestel and its owner Bell Canada to move money around in a last gasp attempt to keep competition and innovation out of the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut”.
Privately-held VoIP provider Iristel, which is a major shareholder in Ice, is rolling out telecommunications and Internet services in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut this summer after the CRTC recently approved competition in the region.
"Once again NorthwesTel is proposing to use public money to keep out competition, just like they have always done”, said Cameron Zubko, Ice's VP of corporate development, in a statement. “Apparently $20 million a year from the CRTC's National Contribution Fund is not enough.
"This latest ploy flies in the face (of) the spirit and intent of the public benefits policy which is to benefit the broadcasting system generally and the communities served. Last I checked, neither Astral nor Bell had radio or TV systems in Canada's North."
Ice Wireless and Iristel are urging Canadians to contact the CRTC to protest the proposal. Comments on the Bell/Astral acquisition, including the tangible benefits package, are due in to the Commission prior to August 9, 2012.
