MONTREAL - The business division of Manitoba Telecom Services is expanding its Quebec operations and will open a technical support centre in Montreal, adding 50 new jobs.
The Allstream division, which competes with big telecoms Bell (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T), provides business services and already has 260 employees in the province.
Allstream said Tuesday that it will be able to provide customers with centralized technical expertise, better response times and a fully bilingual staff.
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSX:MBT) had tried to sell its Allstream division last year. But federal Industry Minister James Moore, acting under national security provisions of the Investment Canada Act, rejected the $520-million deal that would have seen Allstream sold to Egyptian investment group Accelero Capital.
Allstream, with about 2,000 employees, provides Internet services to about 50,000 businesses, Canadian government installations and facilities and to some provincial governments.