VANCOUVER and CALGARY — Lite Access Technologies Inc. and Rigstar Industrial Telecom announced today Rigstar has been awarded the contract for a fibre build project from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation located in the Onihcikiskwapowin region of central Alberta.
The project is valued at $1.858 million, according to a press release, and is being funded by the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, Indigenous Services Canada, and by Saddle Lake Cree Nation.
Federal funding for the project, which will upgrade the existing Internet and extend cellular infrastructure to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, was announced in June 2021 by Infrastructure Canada. At the time, the Canadian government said the project would receive more than $2.6 million in federal funding.
Calgary-based Rigstar specializes in providing industrial telecommunications services, while Vancouver-based Lite Access Technologies uses advanced installation methods including the use of micro/narrow trenching technologies to deploy fibre networks.
Rigstar’s CEO and president, Dan Grisdale, said his company will work closely with Saddle Lake Cree Nation and community consulting firm Urban Systems on the project.
“The fibre infrastructure will increase access to high-speed Internet for the Nation, while paving the way for future economic growth,” Grisdale said. “These investments play an important role to help bridge the digital divide for rural communities.”
