Sawiris says Ottawa policy risks foreign investment

By IVCPOST Staff Reporter

Oct 16, 2013 11:08 PM EDT

The unclear telecommunications policy of Ottawa had jeopardized foreign investment in Canada. This had also cast doubt over the future of Wind, the biggest new player in the wireless market of Canada. This was according to a statement from Egyptian telecom mogul Naguib Sawiris last Wednesday.

Sawiris had control in the new telecom player Wind Mobile in 2008 but had lost his ties with company. This was after his controlling stake in Orascom, the owner of Wind Mobile, was sold to Vimpelcom Ltd, a European telecoms firm, in 2011.

Until earlier this month, Sawiris had retained an interest in investing in the Canadian telecom sector. This was after the Canadian government blocked his bid to acquire Allstream, a fiber optic network owned by Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. The bid was blocked by the government citing unspecified national security concerns.

In an interview with Reuters last Wednesday, Sawiris said, "Canada is behaving like a third-world country. It is not behaving like a Western developed economy."

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