$1B Northwestel purchase still in limbo
Sixty North Unity working on closing conditions, raising money for purchase
An Indigenous consortium is mum on a deal to buy northern Canada’s largest telecom provider. (File photo)
Two years after an Indigenous consortium announced plans to buy Northwestel from Bell Canada, there is still no word on when and if the deal will proceed.
“Bell continues to work with Sixty North Unity to close the transaction, which remains subject to certain closing conditions, including securing financing by Sixty North Unity,” said David Marcille, senior media relations manager at Bell, in an email Thursday.
Sixty North Unity is made up of Yukon First Nations Telco in Yukon, Denendeh Investments Inc. in the Northwest Territories, and Kitikmeot Corp. in Nunavut.
In June 2024, the consortium and Bell Canada announced the $1-billion deal to buy the largest telecommunications provider in the North.
The purchase would make Northwestel the largest Indigenous-owned telecommunications company in the world.
Matthew Bossons, communications manager at Northwestel, declined comment.
Sixty North Unity also did not respond to a request for comment.
Northwestel serves 97 communities across the three territories, British Columbia and Alberta.
There is no way that Canadian tax dollars should be used to bail out Bell by buying Northwestel’s outdated and obsolete systems.
The tax payer has already paid for these old assets many times over with subsidies over the years.
Just let Northwestel die the death it deserves and let the Inuit private sector buy whatever is left for pennies on the dollar, if there’s anything there still worth a buck.
Out with the old and in with the new.