Monday, 17 December 2012

First ever landline #phone #competition launched in #YZF #NWT #Whitehorse #Inuvik by Iristel

Iristel launches first ever local phone competition in Canada's North for consumers and business

Choice now available in Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Inuvik for customers to switch while keeping their phone number; more to come with advanced Internet-based services for smaller communities slated for 2013

YELLOWKNIFE, NT, December 17, 2012 – Consumers and businesses in Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Inuvik can now keep their existing phone numbers and move to Iristel's advanced phone network for significantly less than they are paying currently for local phone service.

"Our network is fired up, connected to the south and ready to go for people in Canada's North who are tired of high monopoly prices for landline phone service," said Samer Bishay, President and CEO of Iristel Inc. "We're offering more advanced services at lower prices than the incumbent phone company."

The new local phone service is being sold in Yellowknife through ICE Wireless (toll-free at 855-474-7423) and Global Storm (867-873-8611), and in Whitehorse through Midarctic Technology Services (867-668-6024) and Polar Group ICT (867-668-2546) and in Inuvik New North Networks (867-777-2111.)

"Residential and business customers can cut their local service phone bill in half, keep their existing phone numbers, not have to buy new equipment or change anything in the way they make calls now. It's simple to change, simple to use and simply more affordable," Mr. Bishay said.

The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) last year broke the final phone monopoly in North America and set in place regulations allowing competition in Canada's North. Connecting its VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) network to the rest of Canada and the world via the Internet was the last piece of the puzzle for local phone choice in Canada's North.

"We just completed our final tests and our network now reaches the North with cutting-edge technology and advanced 21st century services," said Maged Bishara, Iristel's Vice-President Operations. "This is significant, not only for consumers and businesses in the North but for all of Canada because it is the first step in bridging the digital divide that has separated Canada's North from the rest of the country."

VoIP technology is more flexible and more affordable than the plain old telephone service offered by the incumbent phone company. For example, a business can get a multiline PBX phone system hosted by Iristel in the cloud and avoid paying up to $20,000 in upfront costs for office phone equipment and never pay long-distance charges for internal company calls from one office to another.

Iristel, which has been licensed since 2000 by the CRTC as a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier), now brings its many other VoIP telecom services to the North, including Virtual Faxing that automatically converts paper faxes to digital and delivers them as email, Video Conferencing, Hosted Auto Attendant, IP Trunking and Wholesale Services.

"We are a pro-competition company," Mr. Bishay said. "If a reseller wishes to compete against the incumbent and us, that's fine. We will provide them with the necessary resources at affordable wholesale rates. We do this because we believe competition brings innovation and fairer prices for consumers and business."

Other consumer benefits include features like Call Waiting, 3-Way Calling and Voicemail for $2 month. Iristel service includes free Visual Call Display, free Caller ID and free Caller ID blocking with no activation fees, hidden charges or contracts. For a limited time only, Iristel is offering extended local calling that enables customers to call all 867 numbers for free, not only the ones residing in their town.

Through its partner company ICE Wireless, customers switching to Iristel's landline CLEC services can also get mobility phone service in the North.

About Iristel

Established in 1999, Iristel Inc. ("Iristel") was granted a carrier license by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 2000 and is one of Canada's largest VoIP service providers with a coast-to-coast-to-coast network. Iristel offers a complete portfolio of IP services in Canada, including hosted IP PBX, virtual faxing, virtual roaming, and global IP trunking products and services. For more information please visit www.iristel.ca.

For more information:

Bob Brehl
Media Relations
pr@iristel.com
T: 416-800-0010   

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GEORGE LESSARD
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