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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A new telecommunications partnership has emerged to end NorthwesTel Inc.'s monopoly of the Northern telephone market.

Samer Bishay: Ice Wireless president says monopoly is over.

Ice Wireless announced Monday that the Inuvik-headquartered telephone and Internet company has teamed up with southern carrier and major shareholder Iristel Inc., to expand as a competitive local exchange carrier in NorthwesTel's territory.

The partnership has applied for 867 phone numbers and is going through the interconnection process now, Samer Bishay, president of both Iristel and Ice Wireless, told Yellowknifer.

"NorthwesTel's monopoly is officially at an end," Bishay stated. "We are proud to finally be able to give Northern Canadian residents a choice when it comes to their local phone company."

The Ice Wireless-Iristel partnership is the first competitor to enter the Northern telephone market since NorthwesTel's long-time regulated monopoly was brought to an end as of May 1, following a ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) last December.

Ice Wireless-Iristel plans to launch a range of telephone services including voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and wholesale long distance to subscribers where Ice Wireless's existing footprint is in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Hay River, Aklavik, Behchoko and Whitehorse, by July.

After the initial rollout, the partnership plans to expand to other communities.

Toronto-based Iristel has more than four million active phone numbers in small and large communities in all 10 provinces, and has been after expansion in the Northern market "for a while," Bishay said.

"We were really happy to see the CRTC issue that decision. For us, nationwide is crucial, Canada should be Canada, and this concept has been delayed here because of the monopoly," Bishay said, adding competition will "go a long way toward ending the so-called digital divide.

"Obviously, it's not fair for Northern Canadians to live any differently than in the south," he said. "Because now everybody's competing for market share, they have to offer something extra for the consumer, so it's really a win-win for the consumer here."

Emily Younker, spokesperson for NorthwesTel, said the company has worked hard to make its network ready for local competition, as well as to improve as a company to prepare for local competition.

"The way we look at it as a company, is competition brings opportunities and it is up to us as a company to capitalize on those opportunities," Younker said, adding that NorthwesTel is improving customer service, and revamping how products and services are sold.

"In the past we have been very focused on providing services and focusing on our products and network and while we will continue to do that we also see the importance of becoming very customer-focused," she said.

In response to Ice Wireless-Iristel, Younker said, "while we don't want to speculate on what other companies are doing, we will say that we invest annually millions of dollars in our network and we continually invest in the North."

Ice Wireless-Iristel is expecting to have 3,000 to 5,000 phone numbers deployed in Yellowknife by the end of the year, and is aiming for 20,000 subscribers across the North.

The partnership will be able to offer residential phone service at about half the cost of current residential phone service prices in the North, Bishay said, adding VoIP service is often "better" voice quality, provided that the Internet Protocol network is managed well.

"It's going to give the consumer a lot of flexibility with a lot of unlimited-type calling plans that probably have not been offered in the North," Bishay said.

Yellowknife-based Internet service provider SSI Micro is continuing to advance plans to enter the Northern telephone market as well, said Dean Proctor, chief development officer.

"When we do enter, it's going to be because we have the systems in place, the technology in place, and also because the costs work," he said.

Aspects of the CRTC ruling to allow competition in the North, including local number portability, will be forthcoming dependent on competitor request, Younker said.

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