TELUS extends broadband reach to remote communities

TELUS has formed a partnership with the Gwaii Trust Society to invest CAD1.3 million (USD1.167 million) to bring high speed internet services to the Queen Charlotte Islands in Northern British Columbia. The company claims that it is rolling out the longest over-water broadband internet link in the world to reach some 5,000 internet subscribers through a combination of wireless and fibre-optic technology. The project involves building a series of high-capacity data transmitters on the summit of Mount Hays, which will then transmit signals 115km over the Hecate Strait to a station in Masset, where the service will be delivered to other communities via fibre-optic cables. Work on the tower is already underway and it is expected that the first residential and business customers will be able to use the service by the end of this year.