Preparing for the telecommunications turf war

Citywest, Telus and Rogers Communications are all making their plans as the communications options on the North coast suddenly become the thing of a hot property.

And if you’re looking for a ground zero for this battle of the communication titans, look no further than Port Edward. In mid October, Citywest announced it’s desire to offer high-speed internet services to the town, while Citywest was trumpeting it’s plans, Telus was announcing an initiative of its own, investing $800,000 dollars to bring mobile phone service to four coastal communities in the coming months.

Telus is upgrading its existing switching sites and transmitters in Port Edward, Hartley Bay, Klemtu and Oona River, which when completed will provide cellular and wireless data services, text messaging and internet access in each community.

The interesting location of that group of four is Port Edward, which may actually end up with a choice of two competing internet hook ups by next.

Also coming into the mix shortly will the Rogers empire, presently looking at installing two communications towers in the city, one on Mount Hays and the other on the west side of highway 16 south of the old parking lot for the Tall Trees trail.

Once they are up and operating, Rogers plans to bring a network on line to offer the full range of Rogers services to the northwest within two years. They say that they will offer a connection matching or exceeding that of the Telus coverage, one wonders what that means for CityWest, which having acquired the Monarch Cable system in the last year is suddenly looking at competition from not one, but two major competitors in its markets.

Of particular concern to CityWest could be the introduction of Telus TV to those markets that already have a Telus presence. It offers up a television delivery service that could rival that of CityWest, including such options as video on demand and a myriad of other options. Presently it is only offered in selected markets in the province, but in those locations it offers programming that compares favourably to the offerings of the major satelite television companies at the moment. One assumes that it's only a matter of time before they roll the service out past the big cities and into the rural areas that may be underserved by their local cable options.

Not to be outdone, Rogers as well offers what they call Personal TV, which also offers a number of entertainment options to the consumer, whether they would offer those services in the Northwest remains to be seen, but if they indeed plan to "offer a connection matching or exceeding that of the Telus coverage", then it could be a very different communications landscape in the next two years or so.

All in all, it should make for an interesting time for northwest residents who may be anxious to do a little comparison shopping for their telecommunication and home entertainment needs.

TELUS FIRES NEW SALVO IN PHONE WAR
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, October 23, 2006
Page One

Telus announced last week that it will invest $800,000 to launch mobile phone service to four coastal B. C. communities in the coming months.

It’s the latest move in a telecommunications war between CityWest, Telus and Rogers to bring coverage to northwestern communities.

Telus is upgrading existing central switching offices with state-of-the-art cellular network and transmission equipment in Port Edward, Hartley Bay, Klemtu, and Oona River. The sites will price PCS cellular and wireless data services such as text messaging and internet access to each community. Similar upgrades were just completed to bring mobile phone service for the very first time to the Queen Charlotte Islands, Bella Bella and Bella Coola. <BR>R>“By adding cellular network equipment to existing TELUS landline sties we are able to extend wireless service to small communities along British Columbia’s mid-coast that would otherwise be prohibitively costly to serve.” Said Shaun Greffard, TELUS general manager for Interior North.

“TELUS is dedicated to bringing all our customers the best possible telecommunications service, whether in metropolitan centres or rural communities.”

Greffard added that this project complements ongoing $500,000 enhancements to wireless coverage along the Prince George-Prince Rupert highway and the $110 million Connecting Communities investment that will bring broadband Internet facilities to 119 rural B. C. communities by the end of this year.

TELUS crews are working to connect Port Edward late this year, Hartley Bay, Klemtu, and Oona River in 2007.

Telus isn’t the only one looking to bring broadband internet service to Port Edward.

In July 2006, the District of Port Edward announced that it had warded an infrastructure grant for $20,000 to CityWest for the purpose of bringing high-speed internet services to the town. CityWest and The District of Port Edward agreed that the grant would get dispersed back to Port Edward residents in the form of credits for those who signed up for high-speed internet service. As a result, the first 150 customers who sign up for CityWest high speed internet in Port Edward will receive a free installation plus a cable modem rental free for one-year.

The first phase of the expansion plan is to run fibre-optic lines into Port Edward. On Sept. 25, CityWest began tying into the existing fibre optic network along Highway 16 and running a line into Port Edward in order to enable the local plant to carry high-speed data traffic. The final phase of the project will see the installation of a state-of-the-art Cable Modem Termination System in Prince Rupert that would run the high-speed cable internet network. R>
Although no firm date has been set for the availability of service, CityWest is currently taking pre-orders from Port Ed residents who want to be among the first to access the service.

Meanwhile, back in February, Rogers Wireless also began the process of bringing its cellular service to the region. The company has applied for permission to use Crown Land for two new telecommunications towers in Prince Rupert – one on Mt. Hays and one on the west side of Highway 16 just south of the old parking lot for the Tall Trees trail.

Steve Forrest, regional manager of new site development for Rogers, said the company’s service currently ends in Vanderhoof. However, during the coming two years, the company plans to install a network to bring the full range of Rogers services to the Northwest.

“Our intention is within two years to have connection matching or exceeding Telus coverage,” said Forrest.