PRINCE RUPERT – CityWest announced today the first 50 kilometers of subsea fibre-optic cable for the Connected Coast project, its joint venture with Strathcona Regional District, has been laid at landing sites in Northern B.C.
Construction on the $45.4-million project, which is being funded by the federal and provincial governments, began last November.
Now, fibre has been laid and connected at shore landings in Lax Kw’alaams, Metlakatla, and Dodge Cove. “Another leg was brought ashore at Ridley Island, an industrial area just outside of Prince Rupert, which will connect into CityWest’s main network,” a press release explains.
“Over the next few weeks, weather permitting, the project team will lay more subsea fibre-optics to other Northern communities, like Kitkatla and Oona River, before going westward to Haida Gwaii. The construction project team will then move down to the southern areas of the network off the east coast of Vancouver Island,” the release says.
Once complete, the Connected Coast project will touch around 90,000 households in 139 rural and remote B.C. communities, including 48 Indigenous communities, and will stretch across 3,400 kilometers.
“Laid in an environmentally-friendly manner on the ocean floor, it will be one of the longest coastal subsea networks in the world,” the press release says.
“After years of hard work and arranging permitting, we’re ecstatic to see fibre going into the water,” said Stefan Woloszyn, CEO of CityWest, in the release.
“We’re extremely proud of everyone who has been involved to get us to this point, and we’re looking forward to bringing underserved communities world-class connectivity. This is what they need and this is what we’re bringing!”
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Photo of construction crews connecting subsea fibre line to Ridley Island provided by CityWest.
