Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 11/99) - The collapse of a NorthwesTel Mobility Inc.-Telus Mobility cellular agreement will not affect service, according to an NMI top executive.

"Our role is to ensure our customers get coverage," Glenn Nicol, NMI vice-president and general manager, said Monday. NMI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NorthwesTel Inc.

On July 26, it was announced that Telus Mobility would be ending its roaming agreement with NMI effective Sunday, Aug. 15. Telus Mobility is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telus Corp., which merged with B.C. Telecom Inc. to form BCT.TELUS Communications Inc.

"This official notice (of termination of the agreement) was the result of months of negotiations initiated by Telus Mobility to reduce their fair share costs incurred by their customers' use of NMI's network," NMI said in a release.

Roaming agreements allow cell-phone customers to use other companies' networks.

NMI continues to have roaming agreements with every other mobility company in Canada.

By ending the agreement, NMI customers who live in NorthwesTel's service area -- the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon and northern British Columbia -- will not be able to use the Telus Mobility network.

NMI is expected to make an announcement this week on how it will be replacing the service. It could mean a new roaming agreement with another carrier.

Nicol could not elaborate on the announcement but he did say any changes will not mean higher customer costs.

"A major announcement will be out shortly and well in advance of the Aug. 15 deadline imposed by Telus Mobility, concerning use in Alberta and B.C.," NMI said.

Telus Mobility's customers will still be able to use the NMI network. Not surprisingly, NMI is encouraging Telus Mobility customers to become NMI customers. Oil and gas companies are the big users of NMI's network South of 60, which extends to Fort Saint John, B.C.

"For NMI's customers, we have a solution to ensure they have coverage in Alberta and B.C.," Nicol said.

Also in a release, NMI said it has raised its coverage area with three new sites in northern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. The sites have been set up to serve the oil and gas industry, NMI said.