Dryden council approves DMTS mobility sale to Tbaytel

Tbaytel is the official owner of Dryden Municipal Telephone Service’s mobility assets.

Dryden city council on Wednesday officially gave the OK to the bid and Tbaytel officials said they expect to begin serving DMTS mobility customers by the end of this month or early November.

“Transition planning is under way that will ensure that all DMTS Mobility customers are moved to Tbaytel before DMTS Mobility turns down their current network on Dec. 15, 2012,” Tbaytel officials said in a release issued to media late Wednesday night.

Terms of the deal were not released. DMTS's landline and Internet businesses were sold to Bell Aliant for $4.5 million, according to the Kenora Daily Miner. Dryden Mobility owes $11 million in government loans for cell towers, money guaranteed by the city, and owes DMTS an additional $10 million for equipment purchases over the past four years, the newspaper reported last month.

On top of it all, the City of Dryden is $35 million in debt.

The Thunder Bay-based utility said it will begin contacting its new customers by mail within the next two weeks to outline details of the transaction.

“Tbaytel is very pleased to be able to provide services to our new Dryden customers and we welcome them all to the region’s largest wireless network,” said outgoing Tbaytel president and CEO Don Campbell in the release.

“Our goal will be to ensure a seamless customer transition to our services. With the consolidation of our services and technology, Tbaytel is positioned in the marketplace to bring increased value to our customers and the communities we serve in Northern Ontario. We are continuing to invest in our neighbourhood and we are committed to providing best in class network and services to all of our customers in our region.”

The deal is still subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications commission.