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TELUS announces completion of Fernie fibre optic network
Their trucks were in town all summer, running wires from poles or underground to houses and businesses throughout Fernie. They came in quick and within nine months had delivered the most advanced broadband technology to 90% of the homes and businesses in Fernie.
TELUS announced these details to Kootenay East MLA and Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett, City of Fernie Mayor Mary Giuliano and business leaders on November 13.
Fernie is one of the first communities fully connected to TELUS Fibre making Fernie one of a small fraction of communities that are directly connected to a fibre optic network. Less than two percent of Canadian communities and less than four percent of North American communities are connected to a fibre optic network. It is described as a generational investment in the community, laying the foundation necessary to enable the growth of digital economies. It will future-proof the needs of the community to meet the rapidly growing technology demands of residents and businesses.
This technology and communication capacity opens up business opportunities. There is now better access to telecommuting and cloud computing.
“In the coming years, we will see increasingly more innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, health care, and education, all made possible by TELUS Fibre. As one of the first communities fully connected to this state-of-the-art network, we believe that Fernie can become a test bed for innovation and technology leadership,” said Phil Moore, Vice-President of Broadband Operations with TELUS.
From TELUS: “the gigabit-enabled TELUS fibre optic network is among the most advanced communications infrastructure available in the world today, enabling connected residents to immediately take advantage of dramatically faster Internet speeds of up to 150 megabits per second, while interested businesses, schools, healthcare providers, and institutions can access even more speed and capacity. As demand and Internet technologies evolve in the coming years TELUS will offer faster speeds and more capacity, sufficient for decades to come. Local healthcare providers, educators and technology companies will be able to draw upon the technology to reimagine how they deliver existing services and develop entirely new solutions.”
The installation of TELUS fibre in Fernie is part of a $10.2 million investment by TELUS to the region and a $4 billion commitment to the province of B.C.
Bennett was on-site to congratulate Fernie and TELUS on completing this installation and noted that people come from all over the world to live in Fernie, this gives them one more reason to do so.
“The expansion of Internet services in Fernie gives residents and businesses access to the most advanced technology available today,” said Bennett. “This is a major investment by TELUS that supports local jobs and will enable long-term economic growth in the community.”
Mayor Giuliano shared that her first job was working with BC Tel as an operator working at a switchboard. She then added, “the enhanced technology made available through the TELUS fibre optic network will serve our residents, visitors and businesses well far into the future. In addition to the long term benefits that will be provided, TELUS’ investment is transferring to an immediate impact on the local economy with Fernie accommodators and other businesses experiencing increased activity as a result of the substantial crew that’s been deployed by TELUS to undertake the installation of the related infrastructure.”
Sheila Byers, board president of the Fernie Chamber of Commerce also attended the announcement. “The opportunity for businesses to grow and new businesses to come to Fernie is expanded based on the installation of this broadband service” stated Byers. “Thank you to our Mayor for being a leader in B.C. and Western Canada to seeing how Fibre optic can enrich the lives or our citizens and businesses. We look forward to our business community taking advantage of the digital opportunities now available to them with this technology.”
The Fernie Chamber of Commerce will work with TELUS to host education session on how the Fernie broadband connection can be used by businesses and health care services. Fernie businesses are encouraged to contact the chamber if there are specific topics they would like to learn about.
Above image: From left, Bert Braybrook, Sheila Byers, Mayor Mary Giuliano, Phil Moore and Bill Bennett, Kootenay East MLA and Minister of Energy and Mines.
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