ST. JOHN’s – A recent fire that knocked out all phone service for about 150,000 Newfoundland homes for about five hours drove home the point to residents of Canada’s easternmost province that they need another telecom option.
Today, the province (whose premier is former Cable Atlantic owner Danny Williams) announced it will spend $15 million on a new fully redundant fibre optic cable link from St. John’s to Halifax, N.S.
The provincial government won’t be the only one spending. A consortium consisting of Persona Communications, a national rural cable operator based in St. John’s that provides video and data to many Newfoundland and Labrador communities, as well as to about 220,000 customers across the country; Rogers Communications, the St. John’s cable operator and national wireless carrier; and MTS Allstream, the national business telephony arm of the Manitoba telco, will spend an additional $37 million on the fibre link.
The companies, along with the province, will co-own the venture.
"Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province completely dependent on a single carrier for its out of province telecommunications needs and this government firmly believes this is not in the best interests of consumers and the province as a whole," said the province’s minister of innovation, trade and rural development, Trevor Taylor.
"Government has been working on a telecommunications strategy since it assumed office, and will be releasing further strategy details in the coming months. We believe we need to act now to bring Newfoundland and Labrador up to the same standards as the rest of the country," he added.
"Our consortium is thrilled that we are able to bring this project to fruition," said Paul Hatcher, Persona’s CFO. "It will enable us to offer more reliable enhanced products and services to Newfoundland and Labrador customers."
