Competitors cry foul over Northwestel/Bell Canada "shell game"

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...