PORT HARDY, BC — Telus has invested $14 million to build out a fibre optic network in Northern Vancouver Island, allowing residents, businesses, healthcare facilities and schools to access dramatically faster, higher-capacity Internet and data connections.
The fibre network will also enable Telus to enhance wireless service in the area, by providing the capacity needed to upgrade existing sites to 4G LTE. Telus said in a press release that it expects to complete the wireless upgrades within the next year.
The new infrastructure runs 150 kilometres through part of the traditional territories of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations from the Sayward Junction to Port McNeill, connecting communities including Woss Lake, Port Hardy, Alert Bay, Port Alice, Holberg, Quatsino, Winter Harbour, Tahsis, Zeballos, Hesquiaht, Kingcome Inlet, Hope Island, Fort Rupert, and Dead Point on Harbledown Island. Telus said it is building a similar fibre optic network for other Vancouver Island communities from Port Alberni to the Ucluelet Junction, and it expects work to be completed next year.
“This investment is bringing high-speed Internet to some communities for the first time, while enabling new approaches in healthcare, education, business and home entertainment on the North Island for years to come,” Ray Lawson, Telus general manager for Vancouver Island, said in the press release.
After conducting environmental reviews, Telus completed the fibre optic network in collaboration with the Kwakiutl Band Council, local governments, businesses and community groups. To build the network, Telus used specialized equipment to place the fibre optic cable in trenches alongside highways, instead of stringing lines aerially, which eliminated the need for road-side logging and potentially saved hundreds of thousands of trees, according to Telus.
“Completing this fibre build has been an accomplishment on a number of levels. We’ve built strong relationships with the Kwakiutl Band Council, other First Nations and local communities, developed an environmentally sustainable way to install 150 kilometres of fibre optic cable along the highway, and unleashed significant possibilities for the region’s 11,000 residents, local businesses, healthcare facilities, and schools,” Lawson said in the news release.
