The president and CEO of Iristel, the parent company of Ice Wireless and Sugar Mobile, tweeted out frustration yesterday in regards to “Canadian telecom oligopolies.”
Samer Bishay said “if Canadian telecom oligopolies think they’re above the law, they’re in for a surprise. I have no time or patience for this behind the scenes manoeuvring and strong-arming. whistleblowing needs to happen and both @CRTCeng and @ISED_CA need to listen. my word is my honour[.]”
if Canadian telecom oligopolies think they're above the law, they're in for a surprise. i have no time or patience for this behind the scenes manoeuvring and strong-arming. whistleblowing needs to happen and both @CRTCeng and @ISED_CA need to listen. my word is my honour
— Samer Bishay (@SBishayIRIS) June 11, 2018
When asked by Greg O’Brien, the founder of Cartt.ca, if Bishay’s concerns were related to Iristel’s recent $147 million plus lawsuit against Rogers over allegations of breaches of contract, the CEO replied, “no.something else unrelated.I will give them one last chance to rectify. it’s sad to see their blatant disregard for our telecom laws & policies.if competition bureau got ahold of this one,it will be all hell break loose in this country & potentially the end of the oligopoly era.”
@sugarmobileinc is coming back in our licensed spectrum areas in both Ontario and Quebec. They want facilities? facilities they shall get.https://t.co/AOFJyNIIqp
— Samer Bishay (@SBishayIRIS) June 6, 2018
Recently, at the 2018 Canadian Telecom Summit, Bishay didn’t hold back when asked about his thoughts on recent ‘Big 3’ proposals for lower-cost, data-only plans, starting at 400MB for $25 (Rogers).
When panel host O’Brien turned over the topic to Bishay, he said “I think it was more of a bone to the CRTC and the feds to say we’re doing something, here’s the fix,” according to MobileSyrup. “The plans were a bit of a joke in my opinion. There was nothing there,” he added.
Bell’s senior vice president of regulatory affairs, Robert Malcolmson—also on the same panel—retorted, “We came up with something we thought wasn’t a joke.”
It appears something in regards to one of Iristel’s carrier partners has Bishay angered, and according to this tweets, it could be especially damaging to the ‘Big 3’, especially if he claims it could “potentially the end of the oligopoly era.”
We’ve reached out to Bishay for comment and will update this post accordingly.
