MARKHAM, Ont. January 21, 2016 – Canadian customers of netTalk can now receive calls and port their phone numbers to other service providers, if they wish. This comes through a deal between Iristel Inc. and Primus Canada, another telecommunications service provider.

“We received zero money owed to us from netTalk under terms of this agreement,” said Iristel President and CEO Samer Bishay. “This deal is about helping the Canadian consumer. At Iristel, we’re also victims of netTalk with $2 million of money not paid to us, but having Canadian consumers without full phone service is far too important to let it drag on.”

Under terms of the deal, going forward Primus will serve netTalk subscribers and pay Iristel a portion of what netTalk is obligated to pay Primus. A wrinkle in the deal occurred when the parent company of Primus on January 19 filed for relief under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and similar protection in Ontario courts.

“Ironically, this is better for customers because if our deal occurred before bankruptcy proceedings were filed, it could be tied up for months,” Bishay said. “Primus looks to be coming out stronger from bankruptcy relief with a viable investment firm ready to buy it.”

Mr. Bishay could not say the same for netTalk. “With the phone numbers released to end users, every customer would be wise to look at reputable service providers, many offering discounts to netTalk subscribers. Given the history and stability of netTalk, customers should do some basic research to determine if they want to port their number elsewhere or not. There is no guarantee Primus will not have the same problems with netTalk as we had with them not paying their suppliers.”

Iristel wishes to thank the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for its help in finding a solution to this issue. “But we also hope this situation where a reseller totally disregards the rules and regulations of Canadian laws will lead to some changes in the CRTC rules,” Mr. Bishay said.

“Again, we apologize for the inconvenience to a significant number of Canadian consumers who were caught in the middle, but we ran out of options and had no other choice” he said. “We understand many angry consumers will not fully understand what happened, but we hope some will and understand Iristel is every bit a victim as the customers of netTalk.”

When netTalk was disconnected by another supplier for not paying its bills in 2014, the situation lasted 10 days as opposed to five days this time with Iristel. Although a telephone number is the property of the end user for as long as the bills are paid, consumers hand that right over to others when they sign up with resellers like netTalk. All the more reason to do basic research before signing up for the deal that looks too good to be true.

About Iristel

Iristel is licenced by the CRTC and is one of Canada’s largest Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) with facilities in all 10 provinces and three territories.
Media Relations Contact:
Bob Brehl
Media Relations
pr@iristel.com