Industry Telecommunications Headquarters Markham, Canada Type Privately held company | Website www.iristel.ca Founded 1999 | |
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Key people Samer Bishay - President & CEO Subsidiaries Ice Wireless, Exelia Inc., Trutel Inc. | ||
Ptc 17 iristel ceo talks 2017 strategies
Iristel Inc. is a Canadian provider of Voice over Internet Protocol services, and is designated as a competitive local exchange carrier. The company was founded in 1999, and is headquartered in Markham, Ontario, Canada.
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Iristel has also deployed multiple, redundant switching facilities and points of presence (PoPs) nationally resulting in the delivery of stable telecom business solutions to its customers. Iristel's coast-to-coast-to-coast coverage includes cities in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, thus making Iristel a national VoIP CLEC.
Iristel’s offerings include: Residential and Business Voice, Data & Fax Solutions; Virtual Phone Numbers; Hosted PBX and Wholesale SIP Trunking Services; and, Wireless IP Services.
Its clients include: residential and business customers; Incumbent local exchange carriers; and CLECs with Canadian local access requirements.
Background
Iristel was established in 1999 when founder Samer Bishay set up a VoIP technology business to address the needs of under-served African markets. The company was granted a carrier license by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission in 2000. Today, Iristel also has domestic operator licenses in Algeria, Dominica and Romania with an additional 20 points of presence throughout the world.
Iristel launched its High Definition (HD) VoIP Telephone Service in February 2007.
By May 2007, the company added Domestic and Global SIP Trunking and Hosted PBX to its portfolio of Enterprise VoIP Solutions.
In December 2007, Iristel began to offer dual mode Wi-Fi-enabled GSM mobile phones to Canadian customers.
In June 2008, Iristel began offering Iristel IP Mobility, a wireless IP service that combines VoIP over Wi-Fi/GSM, Single Number Reach and Fixed Mobile Convergence. VoIP industry pundits describe Iristel IP Mobility as a “harbinger of things to come”.
Iristel IP Mobility provides users with a single point of contact for fixed, mobile and Wi-Fi calls. Users have on single phone number for both inbound and outbound calling across multiple devices. They can also switch calls back and forth between the mobile network and the VoIP network without interruption to help lower cellular charges. Settings may be configured by users through an online portal.
Iristel has partnered with various carriers and service providers across the world who have chosen to route their wholesale and retail traffic through Iristel, or to rely on Iristel's DID coverage to service their own residential and corporate markets.
In January 2009, Iristel and Algeria Telecom announce an exclusive agreement to offer Inbound Direct Inward Dialling (DID) services to subscribers around the world who want an Algerian number for their existing phone line
In February 2009, MTS Allstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. and a communication solutions provider in Canada, has chosen Iristel Inc., for the conversion of its Time-division multiplexing (TDM) voice traffic to Internet Protocol (IP)-based traffic.
In August 2011, Gogii Inc, the makers of textPlus announced the app can be now used with free Canadian telephone numbers, provided by Iristel. textPlus is an app supported by iPhone, iPod touch and Android which allows users to send free unlimited group text messages
Iristel has performed various interoperability tests with the most important VoIP hardware & software manufacturers: Polycom, Mediatrix, Avaya, Grandstream, Toshiba, 3CX Phone System, Snom and Yealink.
In May 2012, Iristel became a major shareholder in Ice Wireless. Ice Wireless is a Northern Canada-based telecommunications company that provides 3G/4G Mobility Services, Mobile Broadband Internet, and Fixed Line Telephone to the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. Ice Wireless is a roaming partner for Rogers Wireless, Fido and Videotron in Northern Canada.
Services
Iristel has three corporate divisions: Retail Solutions, Enterprise Solutions and Wholesale Services.
Its Retail Solutions are used by both residential and business clients, and include: Voice Solutions (digital telephone service, PC phone service and long distance calling plans), Internet Services (high-speed DSL Internet), Voice and Data Bundles (digital telephone and Internet services), Virtual Fax Services (Internet fax ), Hardware Solutions (VoIP gateways and IP phones), Wireless IP Services (Iristel IP Mobility), Virtual phone numbers.
Enterprise Services offered by Iristel include: Hosted PBX, VoIP Virtual Private Network, Hosted Auto Attendant.
The company’s Wholesale Services include: SIP Trunking, Inbound DID.
Network
As a fully licensed CLEC, Iristel does not resell other operator’s services. The company has its own VoIP network infrastructure.
The Iristel network features international gateway switches in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Paris, France, and London, U.K., with subsidiary offices in Romania; a 24x7-monitored Network Operations Centre; and systems to monitor/manage TDM and IP telephony networks.