TAGGED AS SAMER BISHAY
Iristel blossoms from Montreal apartment to national carrier
telecom | 09/26/2024 12:07 pm EDT
Samer Bishay was working for the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Que. in the late 1990s when he stumbled across a magazine article about real-time communications. At the time, a long distance phone call from Bishay’s Montreal apartment to his family in Toronto cost...
CTS panelists criticize asymmetrical fibre access regime, urge national approach
telecom | 06/20/2024 11:40 am EDT
Industry experts on the Canadian Telecom Summit’s “regulatory blockbuster” panel agreed that Canada's wholesale fibre access regime should be applied on a national...
On outages, Rogers exec calls for ‘regulatory humility’ at CRTC
telecom | 11/23/2022 2:37 pm EST
MISSISSAUGA – When it comes to CRTC chair Ian Scott's Monday announcement of the regulator's upcoming proceeding on network outages, Rogers Communications Inc.’s chief regulatory officer Ted...
Iristel loses appeal over tax assessment
telecom | 10/26/2022 2:15 pm EDT
Iris Technologies Inc. had its appeal to prevent the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) from collecting tax...
Iristel to launch low-cost portability service
telecom | 06/14/2021 5:09 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. is launching a service that will allow Canadian phone numbers to be paired with less expensive plans offered by U.S. telecom companies. On Monday the company announced its $6 per month "Mobifi" service, which it...
Federal Court affirms order compelling CRA to hand over documents in Iristel tax fight
telecom | 06/03/2021 5:30 pm EDT
A Federal Court judge has dismissed a challenge from the Canada Revenue Agency to a February court order compelling the country's tax collectors to turn over a set of...
Court orders CRA to turn tax audit docs over to Iristel
telecom | 02/17/2021 5:31 pm EST
A federal court has ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to hand over to Iristel Inc. "all materials" in its possession related to the tax authority's decision not to release tens of millions of dollars worth of tax returns to the company. In an order released Monday, the court agreed with Iristel's September filing for the CRA to turn over documents related to the agency's decision to withhold tax returns while it conducted two audits of the company. The CRA refused the request, saying that it was overbroad, and disagreed with Iristel's contention that there was any such "decision" for which documentation had to be provided. Federal Court Judge Kevin Aalto sided with Iristel, writing in the court order that there is "clearly a decision that is subject to judicial review." The...
CRTC proposes fines for Iristel, Telus over ‘self-serving’ conduct
telecom | 08/14/2020 3:24 pm EDT
The CRTC has proposed enforcing a financial penalty of between $750,000 and...
Iristel calls for caller ID manipulation to be outlawed
telecom | 08/04/2020 6:20 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. has asked the CRTC to issue an order explicitly prohibiting...
CloudWifi says other small ISPs need access to in-building fibre
telecom | 01/09/2020 1:49 pm EST
CloudWifi Inc. has gone to bat for other small internet service providers...
Bell offers to reveal AI call blocking system to critics
telecom | 10/28/2019 5:11 pm EDT
BCE Inc. says it is willing to share information with critics of its plan...
Bell opts out of 600 MHz, Rogers nabs 52 licenses for $1.7B
telecom | 04/10/2019 5:30 pm EDT
BCE Inc. was among three prospective applicants who didn’t grab licenses for the coveted 600 MHz spectrum, widely considered to be the last chance to get valuable low-band frequencies. The...
CRTC to ‘let market forces operate’ in Bell-Iristel rate dispute
telecom | 03/21/2019 6:01 pm EDT
BCE Inc. doesn’t have to implement a freeze on rates it charges Iristel Inc. while the CRTC decides how to settle a dispute between the two regarding the rates, the regulator said Thursday.
In...
MVNO access proposal ‘burst of oxygen’ to some potential entrants
telecom | 03/04/2019 3:21 pm EST
As the CRTC signals it’s ready to make an about-face on its approach to...
Iristel getting into cybersecurity
Media | 01/18/2019 1:08 pm EST
Iristel Inc. is becoming a provider of cybersecurity services, the company said in a press release...
Iristel complains to CRTC about Bell rate increases
telecom | 01/04/2019 12:44 pm EST
Iristel Inc. says BCE Inc. has put in place “massive and unprecedented rate increases” for access to some of its infrastructure and is asking the CRTC to intervene. According to a Part 1 application filed with the CRTC in late December, Bell gave it 60 days notice of the new rates for circuits used for transport services. Iristel is claiming it would need “at least three and a half years, if not longer, to transition from these circuits to other providers, and that 60 days is wholly insufficient time to make alternative arrangements.” The company said in the partially redacted...
Iristel buys wireless operator specializing in remote areas
telecom | 10/12/2018 2:06 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. has acquired Télécommunications de l’Est (TDE), a small Quebec telecom that provides service to industries operating in remote areas with limited cellular service, such as forestry...
Traffic stimulation in front of CRTC again with Iristel, Telus fight
telecom | 08/08/2018 5:22 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. and Telus Corp. are sparring in a pair of Part 1 applications...
Making net neutrality law redundant: telecom execs
Media | 06/05/2018 9:37 pm EDT
TORONTO — If there was a single point of agreement among panelists representing both small and big...
Iristel to launch wireless service in parts of Ont., Que.
telecom | 05/28/2018 4:39 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. has acquired a small wireless provider with spectrum in eastern Quebec and northern Ontario and plans to launch wireless service in those areas next month, the company said Monday....
CRTC calls out Iristel, but says no new regs in traffic stimulation case
telecom | 12/20/2017 5:40 pm EST
In separate decisions on Wednesday, the CRTC ordered Iristel Inc. to cease the use of 867 area code numbers to connect callers to a Toronto-area radio station audio stream,...
High interim tariffs, logistics still mire disaggregated system
telecom | 08/31/2017 5:13 pm EDT
The CRTC's goal of fuelling wireline competition by jumpstarting the...
Bains tells CRTC to reconsider MVNO rules
telecom | 06/05/2017 1:51 pm EDT
TORONTO — Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains is directing the CRTC to reconsider a March decision in...
Ice Wireless offering unlimited data, roaming plans
telecom | 03/29/2017 5:35 pm EDT
Iristel Inc.’s Ice Wireless is now selling plans with unlimited data and roaming in the United States and Mexico, the company said in a press release Wednesday. The plans “include unlimited calls, texts and...
Kepler and Iristel partner on IoT devices
telecom | 03/22/2017 8:20 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. is partnering with satellite company Kepler Communications Inc. to help Internet of Things (IoT) devices seamlessly connect between cellular networks on the ground and satellites in the sky. The...
CRTC rules against Sugar Mobile in roaming dispute with Rogers
telecom | 03/01/2017 9:21 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc. doesn’t have to provide roaming services to Iristel Inc.’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Sugar Mobile, the CRTC said Wednesday in a...
Iristel to launch VoLTE
telecom | 02/22/2017 9:27 pm EST
Iristel Inc. plans to launch Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service in about two months, Iristel president Samer Bishay said in an email. The company will use technology from software company Metaswitch Networks Ltd., Metaswitch said in a press release Wednesday. “The Ice Wireless...
Iristel buys two small telecoms
telecom | 11/22/2016 10:28 pm EST
Iristel Inc. said Tuesday it has acquired two small telecoms, Toronto’s Trutel Inc. and Montreal’s Exelia Inc. "Our culture is not one filled with 'old phone guys' and neither is Trutel's or...
Rogers accuses Iristel of ‘traffic stimulation’
telecom | 11/22/2016 9:39 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc. is turning to the CRTC in another dispute with Iristel Inc., which it’s accusing of deliberately driving up the volume of phone calls to the Northwest Territories in order to benefit from...
Iristel to roll out ehealth project
telecom | 09/27/2016 9:30 pm EDT
Iristel Inc. and its subsidiary Ice Wireless are rolling out a northern ehealth initiative in partnership with an Ontario-based health products company. In a Tuesday press release, Iristel said that it was teaming up with Pharmaceutical Innovation Ltd. “to offer advanced telehealth services to rural and isolated Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, including amenities not yet available on other wireless networks across Canada.” The pilot project, expected to roll out in early 2017, will use “secured cloud infrastructure” to help medical...
Ice Wireless boosting northern LTE network
telecom | 08/23/2016 9:01 pm EDT
Ice Wireless, a subsidiary of Iristel Inc., said it is rolling out a HSPA/LTE network in 14 northern Quebec communities. A Tuesday press release from Tecore Networks, which supplies mobile network infrastructure,...
Sugar Mobile partners with U.S. MVNO
telecom | 08/03/2016 8:51 pm EDT
Iristel Inc.’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Sugar Mobile announced Wednesday it has partnered with an American WiFi-based service to leverage existing WiFi customers who might want some access to cellular...
CRTC considers regulations after lost telephone service case
telecom | 06/08/2016 6:00 pm EDT
The CRTC said it might consider preventative regulations after a dispute involving two phone service providers resulted in lost telephone service for 27,000 Canadian phone number holders. On Jan. 15,...
Rogers disconnection would set harmful precedent: Sugar Mobile
telecom | 02/24/2016 8:39 pm EST
Interventions filed opposing Ice Wireless' request for interim relief in its roaming dispute with Rogers Communications Inc. failed to properly address the relevant issues, instead focusing on...
Sugar Mobile subs have no ‘right’ to roaming: Rogers
telecom | 02/19/2016 8:47 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. told the CRTC that Rogers has the right to disconnect Ice Wireless from its network because its affiliate Sugar Mobile is selling service outside of Ice Wireless' operating territory. Sugar Mobile “is marketing this service nationally, to customers outside of Ice’s operating territory, using Rogers to augment its customers’ use of WiFi networks in flagrant violation of the terms of the [roaming agreement],” Rogers said in its reply to a Part 1 complaint filed earlier this week by Ice Wireless, a subsidiary...
Service restored to NetTalk customers through Primus
Media | 01/21/2016 8:52 pm EST
NetTalk.com Inc. announced Wednesday evening that its VoIP service has been restored to all its customers in Canada. The Florida-based company said in a Facebook post that all Canadian telephone numbers and services are...
CRTC working to resolve Iristel, NetTalk connection issue
Media | 01/20/2016 3:29 pm EST
Iristel Inc., a Markham, Ont.- based telecom company, announced Tuesday it is working with the CRTC to resolve an ongoing dispute with Florida-based VoIP provider NetTalk.com Inc., in order to...
Sugar Mobile releases WiFi mobile service
telecom | 01/13/2016 4:15 pm EST
Sugar Mobile, a Toronto-area based company owned by Iristel Inc., announced Wednesday a new mobile service that's based on WiFi. It said in a press release that the service operates through an app that is paired with a...
Ice Wireless upgrades mobile network in Yellowknife
telecom | 03/28/2014 7:22 pm EDT
Ice Wireless, a subsidiary of Iristel Inc., said Friday it has upgraded its mobile network in Yellowknife to HSPA+ and called it “the most advanced 3G network in Northern Canada.” The carrier said in a news release...
CRTC review should look at support for mobile, new technologies: Northwestel
telecom | 12/18/2012 3:02 pm EST
One of the top issues for the CRTC's upcoming review of Northwestel Inc. and telecom services in the North will be how to better support newer technologies like advanced mobile services, said Paul Flaherty, Northwestel’s president. “Lots of people are going to talk about the interest of having more wireless...