Public Mobile gets CRTC approval

The CRTC announced Thursday that it has approved new wireless entrant Public Mobile for operations in Canada under the foreign ownership rules. According to the Telecommunications Act, “a Canadian carrier is eligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier if it is a Canadian owned and controlled corporation incorporated or continued under the laws of Canada or a province.” To qualify as Canadian owned and controlled under the Telecommunications Act, not less than 80 per cent of the members of the corporation must be Canadians; Canadians must own directly or indirectly “not less than eighty per cent of the corporation's voting shares issued and outstanding”; and the corporation’s Canadian shareholders must also own and control not less than 66.7 per cent of voting shares. The commission noted in its decision that Public Mobile’s board consists of four Canadians and one non-Canadian, and that Public Mobile is wholly owned by Holdco, which meets the 66.7 per cent threshold for voting shares. Holdco’s Canadian investors include the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Private Equity Wireless Opportunities Corp., with 29.9 per cent of voting interest, VIA Rail Chairman Donald A. Wright, with 12.32 per cent, Public Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic, with 9.9 per cent, and Thomvest Seed Capital Inc., with 6.3 per cent. Holdco’s non-Canadian investors include Columbia with an 8.1 per cent voting interest, M/C AWS Canada S.à.r.l., with 8.1 per cent, and CRP XIII AWS Canada S.à.r.l., with 3.86 per cent. Although the commission approved Public Mobile, it noted in its decision that the carrier must address issues such as veto and liquidity rights. Public Mobile now has 30 days to meet these conditions in an executed amended Unanimous Shareholders Agreement. Public Mobile bought four spectrum licences in the summer of 2008 for $52.4 million.

Public Mobile gets CRTC approval

Brief | April 22, 2010

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Public Mobile gets CRTC approval

Brief | April 22, 2010

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