EDMONTON and CALGARY – Telus announced today it is investing $700 million to connect hundreds of Alberta homes and businesses to its fibre optic cable network.
Today’s announcement is part of the telco’s three-year, $2 billion infrastructure and facilities investment made a year ago. Since 2000, Telus has invested $26 billion in operations and technology throughout the province
This year’s infrastructure investment of $700 million will be used to connect homes and business to Telus’s Gigabit Passive Optical network (GPON), which offers internet speeds of up to 50 MB per second, and to further extend its Optik TV service to reach 90% of Alberta households by the end of 2013. TELUS currently has 712,000 TV customers.
It also includes the installation of dozens of new wireless sites to enhance coverage in urban areas as well as extend coverage to rural communities and highway corridors. So far this year, TELUS has rolled out 4G LTE to more than 85% of Albertans including highway #2 between Calgary and Edmonton, the Cold Lake region and the Lake Louise/Banff area.
Telus will also provide $1.3 million over three years to carry out research with the University of Alberta on the application of emerging technologies to improve patient care within the community.
