VICTORIA – YourLink Inc., the Saskatchewan based Internet service and cable TV division of Vecima Networks, today reported strong growth in its wireless customer base with 6,577 subscribers at March 31, 2007, an increase of 44% compared to a year ago.
The growth, says the company, can be primarily attributed to a long-term agreement signed in September 2006 between Vecima and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Inc. to expand high-speed technology to the Pool, its farm customers and communities throughout the Province of Saskatchewan. "As part of the seven-year agreement which extended YourLink’s wireless network coverage to over 100 of the Pool’s grain marketing and agri-product centres across Saskatchewan, many of the Pool’s sites have become high-speed wireless access points that additionally provide service to nearby farms and small communities within range of the Pool’s locations," says the Vecima release.
YourLink’s wireless network expands the company’s broadband Internet service coverage area in Saskatchewan beyond the areas already covered by its tower network with the addition of the Pool’s locations (Grain elevators are some of the highest points in rural Saskatchewan). Many of the additional rural areas covered provide high-speed Internet access for the first time as the regions are situated beyond the reach of traditional cable or telco DSL service.
"The natural fit of using the Pool’s grain towers as access points has proven to be a very successful project that benefits YourLink, the Pool, and the residents and businesses of rural Saskatchewan," said Vecima chairman and CEO Surinder Kumar, in the press release. "We are very encouraged by the opportunity to provide similar services at the Pool’s newly acquired locations in Alberta and Manitoba resulting from its takeover of Agricore.”
Additionally, YourLink plans to deploy Vecima’s new high-performance WiMAX product in regional Saskatchewan cities to provide surrounding businesses and residents with advanced data services that were previously only available in large urban centres.
