Telus fires back over foreign ownership

In a letter Monday to the federal telecommunications regulator, Telus Corp. says a call from Globalive Wireless Management Corp., the parent of startup Wind Mobile, to hold a hearing into its ownership is a waste of time because it uses a “misleading” report.

As of June 29, 32.59 per cent of Vancouver-based Telus' voting shares are held by non-Canadians, below the federal limit of 33.3 per cent.as set out in the Telecommuications Act, the phone company said.

The first to raise the allegation

Globalive wasn’t the first to raise the allegation, which stems from Telus’ background as a 1999 merger between Edmonton-based Telus and openly-owned BCTel. At one point U.S. communications giant GTE held just over 50 per cent of BCTel. Ultimately GTE became Verizon Communications, which sold its remaining shares.