WIND Mobile has been battling it out in the courts for a few years now, all circling around the amount of foreign ownership they have and if they are truly a Canadian company. Industry Canada believes they are, then in June the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the new entrant and said they can continue to operate their business in Canada. This was supposed to put an end to the issue.
Now months later a TELUS spokesperson has said “We believe it’s time to let the market work”. Things seem to be progressing for WIND as they’ve rolled out to 6 locations and have over 300,000 subscribers. However, the other party who brought on the case was Public Mobile. When the Federal Court of Appeal made their decision Public sent out a press release that stated they were “heading to the Supreme Court of Canada. The company plans to continue its pursuit for a level-playing field on the issue of foreign ownership and control of wireless carriers in Canada”.
Public Mobile operates in both Toronto and Montreal and invested $53 million during the 2008 wireless spectrum auction. Public has a $350 million financing deal with ZTE Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of China, plus backed by with a $50 million investment from OMERS.
Last week, Public went forth and filed an appeal motion with the Supreme Court of Canada asking the case to be re-opened, which means that WIND could once again be heading back to court. John Pazzano, Director of legal affairs for Public stated that “The main rationale is that Public Mobile is seeking clarity”.
Source: FP
