BC Business
WIND Mobile legal battle | BCBusinessWind Mobile claimed victory Thursday when the Supreme Court refused to hear a case regarding their foreign ownership.
Wind Mobile scored a big win as the Supreme Court refused to hear a case saying the wireless carrier wasn’t Canadian owned and operated when it launched. Wind Mobile and its 400,000 wireless customers can resume business as usual after Thursday’s closing of a brewing two-year legal battle. Public Mobile, one of Wind’s competitors, filed a lawsuit alleging Wind wasn’t Canadian owned and operated when it launched into the Canadian market in late 2009.
Wind Mobile and its 400,000 wireless customers can resume business as usual after Thursday’s closing of a brewing two-year legal battle.
Public Mobile, one of Wind’s competitors, filed a lawsuit alleging Wind wasn’t Canadian owned and operated when it launched into the Canadian market in late 2009.
After two years of legal wrangling and appeals, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. While the court didn’t cite a specific reason, the federal law requiring telecommunication firms to be certifiably Canadian recently changed to allow for foreign ownership for companies with less than 10 per cent of the market.
At the centre of the foreign ownership controversy is Globalive, an Egyptian telecommunications conglomerate, which funds the majority of Wind’s enterprise. Initially, the CRTC stopped Wind from entering the mobile market in 2009 because of Globalive’s presence. Though the feds overruled the CRTC, all the legal battles should now be behind the rapidly growing carrier.