CITA 2009: Neither snow, nor sleet, nor really big rocks can stop small-town Ontario FTTH rollout

MARKHAM – When it decided to roll out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) by overbuilding Bell in the town of Mount Forest, Ont. (pop. 5,100), Wightman Telecom couldn’t have foreseen all that lay ahead for the cutting-edge project. And maybe that’s just as well. With 40 kilometres of cable conduit now installed passing fibre-optic connections by 99% of Mount Forest’s residences and businesses, Wightman Telecom’s FTTH project is deemed a success. But it was rife with difficult challenges starting from day one. Jim Norton, project manager with Pickard Construction of Owen Sound, Ont., gave the contractor’s perspective on the Mount Forest FTTH project,...