Sugar Mobile applauds government order to CRTC to reconsider roaming decision

TORONTO, June 5, 2017 /CNW/ - Wireless competitor Sugar Mobile Inc. is delighted by today's announcement by the federal government directing the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to reconsider a recent decision to exclude Wi-Fi-based service providers from access to roaming services.

"Minister Bains and his government are clearly putting consumers and competition first, ahead of the Big Three telecom companies charging some of the highest wireless rates in the world," said Samer Bishay, President and CEO of Sugar Mobile and its parent Ice Wireless.

In Toronto at the annual Canadian Telecom Summit, The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), delivered a multi-year, multi-pronged strategy to promote innovation in the digital economy.

He said providing roaming access to Wi-Fi-based service providers (like Sugar Mobile) "could potentially open the door to companies that use innovative solutions to provide Canadians with more affordable wireless service options."

Adds Mr. Bishay: "We welcome all his plans to promote innovation; especially the opportunity to revisit the roaming issue instead of having to wait at least three years or longer to re-argue that Canadians deserve access to innovative services like Sugar Mobile. There's no guarantee the CRTC roaming decision will be reversed, but Minister Bains and his team are clearly thinking ahead about what's best for Canadians."

The popular and innovative Sugar Mobile service is a made-in-Canada solution that utilizes a combination of Wi-Fi and mobile network roaming to offer customers a cost-effective alternative to some of the world's highest wireless rates. The CRTC ordered on March 1 that only Sugar Mobile customers with addresses in Ice Wireless northern territories who predominantly use the Ice Wireless network could use roaming the services of other mobile wireless carriers.

The proprietary Sugar Mobile app, built in partnership between Sugar, Ice Wireless and their parent company Iristel Inc., is an Over-the-top (OTT) product for smart phones just as NetFlix is OTT content for television.

Mr. Bains also announced a streamlined licensing framework to allow more satellite-based providers to enter the market and extend high-speed Internet services to Canadians in rural and remote communities. This will benefit the proposal of Ice Wireless parent company, Iristel, and affiliated satellite partner Kepler Communications Inc., that was submitted recently to ISED. The proposal calls for building a low-earth-orbit satellite network to bring the equivalent of fibre connections to remote communities in the North. This satellite network would finally close the digital divide by providing Internet service equal to that which is readily available in urban Canada.

SOURCE Sugar Mobile

Sugar Mobile Media Relations, 416.800.0010, [email protected]