Amid an ongoing dispute between two cellphone service providers, one Northerner says he's had enough.

Kyle Newhook said he has been without cellphone service for weeks. He said it's caused him to miss important work-related phone calls.

Newhook, an employee at North-Wright Airways in Norman Wells, believes a conflict between Northern cellphone network Ice Wireless and Telus Mobility is to blame for his problem.

SA国际影视传媒淥ur (airline) customers are being greatly affected by this issue,SA国际影视传媒� said Newhook. SA国际影视传媒淚 answer a lot of phone calls after hours for the company, therefore it has affected me in a massive manner.SA国际影视传媒�

There are close to 10 other people he knows who have not been able to send or receive calls.

In a complaint to Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ice Wireless's parent company, Iristel, is accusing Telus of blocking calls between Ice Wireless customers and Telus customers.

Ice Wireless president and CEO Samer Bishay said his company has heard complaints from several hundred customers across the North. He said the problem has reached the point where people are unable to call their next-door neighbours if they use a different cell network.

SA国际影视传媒淲hat they are doing is holding Canadians hostage,SA国际影视传媒� Bishay said.

Iristel alleges this issue has been ongoing since May 29. According to the complaint, Iristel is asking the CRTC to force Telus to allow all customers access to their respective networks.

In the complaint, Iristel accuses Telus of tampering with customer service.

SA国际影视传媒淭elus has intentionally reduced capacity on certain toll transit circuits that carry Telus traffic to Iristel numbers directly causing an overwhelming amount of congestion that causes the majority of calls from all Telus end users to certain Iristel end users to fail.SA国际影视传媒� states the complaint. SA国际影视传媒淒espite numerous attempts, Iristel has not been able to resolve the issue through informal means, including discussions with Telus management and alternate dispute resolution means in which Telus has refused to participate.SA国际影视传媒�

Richard Gilhooley, senior media relations manager at Telus, countered that Telus actually filed a complaint with the CRTC regarding this situation prior to Iristel. Gilhooley provided the following statement on behalf of Telus:

SA国际影视传媒淚n our application to the CRTC, we demonstrate that Iristel is involved in 'traffic stimulation,' which involves artificially increasing the amount of traffic destined to high-cost serving areas in order to generate revenue from other carriers. We have filed significant evidence in support of our application, and Iristel has a history of engaging in traffic stimulation SA国际影视传媒� in December of last year, the CRTC found that Iristel was engaged in illegal traffic stimulation and ordered them to stop. Iristel has resumed this practice and TelusSA国际影视传媒檚 application asks the CRTC to, once again, order them to stop. IristelSA国际影视传媒檚 allegations that Telus is blocking traffic to Iristel numbers is untrue.SA国际影视传媒�

CRTC communications manager Patricia Valladao said there wouldn't be any further comment on the complaint as it is currently under investigation.