Kegaska and La Romaine are about to be digitally transformed with TELUS high-speed Internet and mobile phone service
18 June 2020 - 11:20PM
Today, TELUS announced that, for the first time, the communities of
Kegaska and La Romaine (Unamen Shipu) have access to mobile phone
service and high-speed home Internet with browsing speeds similar
to those available in urban centres. Thanks to an innovative and
ambitious project that builds on TELUS’ LTE Advanced wireless
technology, around 1,000 citizens in these two communities of the
vast and roadless Lower North Shore are now connected for good.
They have access to the digital tools needed to transform health
care, pursue their studies remotely, optimize the potential of
their businesses, and share their rich culture with the rest of the
world.
“Connecting Kegaska and La Romaine to one of the
fastest and most powerful wireless networks in the world represents
a total digital transformation for these two isolated communities,”
says Marie-Christine D’Amours, TELUS Vice-President, Consumer
Solutions and Customer Experience in Quebec. “TELUS’ ambition is to
deploy its infrastructure in remote regions, especially in the
unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which people are
relying on networks for work, education, access to health care, and
social contact more than ever before. Our project in the vast Lower
North Shore is clearly one of the most complex and ambitious
deployments that TELUS has ever undertaken. More importantly, it’s
also one of the most crucial as it bridges the digital divide and
gives everyone an equal chance to succeed, no matter where they
live.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic shows how essential
high-speed service is to ensure our region’s economic vitality,
keep education going, and provide virtual health care services,
while enabling families to stay informed and entertained,” says
Darlene Rowsell Roberts, administrator of the municipality of
Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. “Since last November, that
same connectivity has brought us together with our loved ones and
have encouraged our youth to stay in the region. It is also
essential for attracting teachers, entrepreneurs and health care
professionals. We can now travel the region safely thanks to the
new wireless service, and have access to all the tools we need to
share the beauty of our communities with the whole world.”
One of TELUS’ largest digital
infrastructure projects north of the 49th parallel
In November 2019, TELUS celebrated a new digital
era for several remote communities between Blanc-Sablon and Pakua
Shipu which had access to high-speed connectivity for the first
time. TELUS is now kicking off the next phase of its wireless
network deployment efforts in the region which had been temporarily
interrupted in the first few weeks of the pandemic. Teams onsite
are complying with all the rules established by provincial and
regional public health authorities and are working closely with the
municipalities. TELUS still expects to have connected all of the
communities by 2021, almost a year ahead of the originally targeted
schedule.
Deploying high-speed Internet and mobile-phone
service to the 14 communities of the vast and roadless Lower North
Shore was made possible by a joint contribution of over $23 million
from the governments of Quebec and Canada as well as TELUS.
Equipment is transported by ship and helicopter, and entire teams
travel in all-terrain vehicles to build the network in remote
areas. To take on this immense challenge, TELUS has focused on its
LTE Advanced wireless technology, which is supported by 200
kilometres of fibre optic and one of the world’s largest and most
advanced microwave ecosystems. TELUS LTE network has also been
awarded multiple times by external firms, including UK-based
Opensignal, which ranked TELUS first in Canada in its Download
Speed Experience category in February 2020. In its State of Mobile
Network Experience 2020 report, Opensignal also noted that download
speeds on Canada’s 4G networks were the world’s fastest, slightly
ahead of South Korea’s.
About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE:
TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications and information
technology company with $14.8 billion in annual revenue and
15.3 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP,
voice, television, entertainment, video and security. We leverage
our global-leading technology to enable remarkable human outcomes.
Our long-standing commitment to putting customers first fuels every
aspect of our business, making us a distinct leader in customer
service excellence and loyalty. TELUS Health is Canada’s largest
health care IT provider, and TELUS International delivers the most
innovative business process solutions to some of the world’s most
established brands.
Driven by our passionate social purpose to connect
all Canadians for good, our deeply meaningful and enduring
philosophy to give where we live has inspired our team members and
retirees to contribute more than $736 million and
1.4 million days of service since 2000. This unprecedented
generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most
giving company in the world.
For more information about TELUS, please visit
telus.com, follow us on Twitter (@TELUSNews) and Instagram
(@Darren_Entwistle).
For further information, please contact:
Jacinthe BeaulieuTELUS Media
Relations418-318-6102jacinthe.beaulieu@telus.com
An image accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/50d391cc-fa80-467e-9921-ebb1197d93aa
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