Telus receiving $9.8M to connect 1,600 rural B.C. homes
OTTAWA — The governments of Canada and British Columbia are jointly providing almost $1.9 million in funding for two projects by Prince Rupert-based CityWest to bring high-speed Internet access to 663 households on Keats Island and in New Brighton on Gambier Island, both located northwest of Vancouver.
The announcement was made today by the federal government, which explained these two projects are part of a larger $108-million federal-provincial funding commitment announced in May 2022, which in turn is part of a $830-million partnership between the two levels of government announced in March 2022.
The federal funding for these projects is coming from the Universal Broadband Fund, while provincial funding is being provided as part of B.C.’s 2022 budget and the Connecting Communities BC program.
“This last-mile fibre-optic build, along with the Connected Coast’s backbone, will future-proof Internet for Gambier Island and Keats Island for decades to come,” Stefan Woloszyn, CEO of CityWest, in the government’s press release.
These two CityWest projects are among the first that either level of government has provided details about since their original March 2022 partnership announcement.
In late August, the B.C. government announced up to $9.8 million in combined federal and provincial funding is being given to Telus Communications to install new fibre to connect approximately 1,600 homes in the rural communities of Chetwynd, Dokie Siding, Twidwell Bend and Wabi Hill in northeastern B.C.
This funding is also part of the $108-million Canada-B.C. funding commitment previously announced in May.
