CityWest set to show us some money!

"The cheque is not in the mail ... but will be delivered next month." --CityWest Board Chair Gord Howie explaining that CityWest is about to provide a dividend cheque to the city of Prince Rupert.
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Part of the night’s information at last Monday’s City council meeting included a presentation from CityWest which outlined some of the exciting opportunities that the telecommunications provider sees in the near future.

Working in a changing environment has provided some challenges for the city owned company, including the lack of a dividend for the city in recent years which traditionally used to provide up to 2 million dollars in revenues for the city.

Recent years have seen CityWest unable to provide that revenue stream due to expenses and costs associated with its expansion plans, but it would seem that may be about to change.

At Monday’s meeting City Manager Gord Howie, who also doubles as chair of the CityWest Board of Directors advised that City West will be delivering a dividend cheque of one million dollars next month.

It will come as a welcome addition to the city’s financial bottom line, but still there are concerns in the community, with a number of questions about the company’s long term plans, financial debt load and the reduced nature of the divideneds in recent years.

In their presentation to City council, CityWest stressed the local nature of their employment force, its expansion plans to take advantage of communications convergence that is ongoing and reviewed some of the features they have added to the service in recent times including cable and blackberry services.

The Daily News featured the details of the “year of opportunity” in Friday’s paper.

City in line for $1m CityWest cheque
Company gives council overview of “exciting year” of opportunity
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pages one and two

On a night on which Prince Rupert City Council decided it needed an additional four per cent in tax from Rupert homeowners, CityWest announced that the city, as the sole shareholder in the company, would be receiving a dividend cheque of $1,000,000 this year.

"CityWest is an exciting company, and is working in a continuing changing environment," said City Manager Gord Howie, who also sits as chair of the CityWest board of directors. "The cheque is not in the mail ... but will be delivered next month."

Members of CityWest, including manager Rob Brown, attended council Tuesday night to share their report regarding the 2007 fiscal year, which in Brown's own words, "was an exciting year, and there is opportunity here."

According to CityWest financial statements for 2007, the company's revenue was $20.8 million as compared to $18.3 million in 2006. In the same breath, expenses reached $18.3 million up from $15.9 million but many increased expenses were due to the addition of the fibre link from Terrace to Rupert, in addition to upgrades for mobile phone service.

This meant CityWest wound up with a net income of $2 million in 2007, as compared to $2.6 million in 2006.

Brown said that the key to continued growth for anyone in the telcommunications industry was convergence, and that CityWest intended to continue on that road, while maintaining a local connection to the Northwest, and specifically, in Prince Rupert.

"Our customer base is very valuable," Brown said.

"(That means) cell phone, phone service, cable, internet (including wireless), all as one ... CityWest will be the only company in the region (to offer all of this), plus the added asset of being local."

All told, CityWest staff now comprises 65 employees - 30 more than the company employed back during the days of CityTel. And most of those employees are local, here in Rupert, said Brown.

"We have increased staff in Terrace and Kitimat, but the bulk of that staff is in Rupert, and all services in-house are in Rupert," he said.

Currently, Rupert is the only city where CityWest does offer all services, but the company is busy trying to expand its base throughout the Northwest, since the company does now offer cable from Rupert to Houston following the purchase of Monarch Cable in 2006.

"Many did wonder about the purchase of Monarch, because the company was in poor shape," said Jack Payne, who also sits on the board of directors. "But that was a great strategic move by CityWest."

According to Brown, CityWest's goal is to be providing all five services throughout the Northwest by 2012.

"We're looking at extending our fibre optic (cable) down to Kitimat," he said.

"As we diversify our community, we'll continue to grow."

Brown also talked about how important it was to reach a partnership with Northwestel, which enabled CityWest to hook up with the Bell Mobility National Network.

This allowed CityWest to offer new features including Blackberry service and online browsers on the mobile network.

"Prince Rupert was too small for Blackberry service," said Brown.

"So this gives us access to further growth in this region."

Mayor Herb Pond was pleased with the announcement of CityWest handing over the $1 million dividend, and said the entire community of Prince Rupert benefits from CityWest.

"A million bucks equates to about 10 per cent to the community," he said.

"That's a huge impact. It doesn't come at any extra cost ... but it does bring us significant benefit."

CityWest makes plans for ten digit dialing

A common practice in the Lower Mainland, the prospect of ten digit dialing will soon be coming to the North and CityWest is making plans to help ease the transition for Prince Rupert residents.

The northern portion of the province will soon be gaining access to the 780 area code, as the 250 code is quickly running out of number combinations thanks to our increased mobility and variety of communication devices to grab the numbers.

Starting June 23, callers will hear a recorded announcement reminding them to call ten digits from now when they attempt to make a call. Full ten digit dialing comes into effect in September, and with it will be the need to change many of our pre programmed dialing programs and Internet and modem connections.

The Daily News had details of the changeover in Thursday's paper.

Phone company rings in changes for 10-digit calls
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, April 10, 2008

People will soon be moving their fingers faster and longer when they pick up the phone.
Ten-digit dialing is being expanded from the Lower Mainland across British Columbia in order to accommodate the addition of a new area code - 778.

"The biggest misconception is people believe that the 778 number will replace the 250 number. Some people have actually come in thinking that they have to change their number or their number will be changing. Everyone will keep the same number," said Chad Cunningham, sales and marketing manager at CityWest.

Ten-digit dialing has been in effect in the Lower Mainland since 2001, however the Canadian Radio-television and Tele-communications Commission (CRTC) announced on June 7 that the 778 area code will expand to cover the entire province because of exhaustion of phone numbers in area code 250. The province of Alberta will also be adding a new area code - 587.

These new codes will enable the creation of millions of telephone numbers. The new codes will be assigned to new numbers only; existing numbers will remain unchanged.

"If we keep going the way we are going in three or four years there won't be any phone numbers left. We need the new area code, so the CRTC created a new task force to phase in the new area codes in B.C. and Alberta," said Cunningham.

To help customers prepare, the industry will have a "permissive dialing period" starting on June 23. As of that date, callers who dial seven digits for a local call will hear a network announcement reminding them to use 10-digit dialing the next time they make a local call.

The announcement will no longer come on once full 10-digit dialing comes into effect in September. The change will not impact toll areas for long-distance calling and all three-digit numbers, including 211, 311, 411, 611, 811, 911 and emergency service (where applicable) will remain the same.

However, Cunningham said people will need to make some necessary changes to their telecommunications equipment, especially when it comes to preprogrammed dialing - this includes speed-dial and contact lists; modems and internet connections; telephones, including call options and functions (e.g. call forwarding); computers and fax machines; databases and auto-dial systems.

The impact may begin even with the introduction of the recorded message starting June 23, making it vital that phones and communications equipment are reprogrammed as soon as possible.

In future years, people will also see 10-digit numbers listed in their telephone directories.
"You will see people get the new area code in the north," Cunningham said.
However, CityWest said it will attempt to get '250 numbers' if they are available when adding new phone numbers.

CityWest hopes for seamless cellular and digital service by Christmas

The city's cellular network run by CityWest has been proving to be problematic for the last few weeks, as bugs apparently related to the telephone service providers switchover to Northwestel cellular trunking has raised the ire of many local residents.

Local residents have been complaining of dropped calls, poor audio and the draining of the cel phone batteries all related it seems to the change over of providers.

With Rogers preparing to launch service in the Northwest in the near future (pictures of their cel tower relays being placed atop the Highliner Inn were seen in the Daily News this week) the timing is bad for a CityWest system malfunction.

The Daily News provided details of the CityWest troubles over the last week as their front page story in Friday's paper.

BUGS WILL SOON BE GONE FROM CELL PHONE SYSTEM: CITYWEST

By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, December 07, 2007

Pages one and three

Although there have been some bumps in switching over the cellular system in the last week and a half, CityWest is confident people can have a functioning Blackberry under the tree this Christmas.

At their annual information session Wednesday evening, Rob Brown, CityWest general manager, said much of the cellular system change-over is complete.

However, he added, they are still ironing out some issues with the new system.

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CityWest is transferring its cellular system from its former provider to NorthWest Tel, a division Bell Canada in order to offer a wider range of text and data services for cell phones.
"It is my hope you will be able to have a Blackberry for Christmas," said Brown.

Chad Cunningham, sales and marketing manager for CityWest, said they are now in the process of optimizing the new system in order to get the cell phones running the way they always did, and they want to focus on this goal before they start adding new services such as Blackberry services.

"That's been the focus for the past week and a half. We all wanted the service, but we don't want to rush it before its time."

Cellular customers have been reporting problems with sound quality and dropped calls for the past week and a half as the new system was brought on-line.

Another issue is that cellular batteries are draining faster than usual, and some handsets are locked onto analog. Cunningham said engineers are working to correct the problems.
Getting text and data transfer services for cell phones has been a high priority for the company in order to meet the expectations of residents and visitors alike.

While, some people have been experiencing problems, people with existing Blackberries and those with personal digital assistants (PDAs) from out of this area are already benefiting from the new system, said Brown. And they are confident they will be able to work out the bugs.

Seeking answers from CityWest

The company at the forefront of the information age in Prince Rupert, has been curiously uninformative over happenings within its own building of late.

Over the last couple of years a cone of silence seems to have been put in place at CityWest. A silence which is particularly apparent when it comes to such matters as the requirement for annual meetings (which the company has skipped), as well as in providing dividends (which they’ve reduced) to the shareholders who also double as taxpayers to the city of Prince Rupert.

These are both issues that have not been addressed by CityWest in recent times, nor do they seem to be of great concern to City Council, which is supposed to be watching out for the taxpayer’s interests. In fact the city’s own words are coming back to haunt them on this file, as the prospect of getting information on CityWest “through city council”, isn’t something that leaves residents with a lot of confidence of late.

Leanne Ritchie of the Daily News penned an informative editorial page piece on the issue, which recounts some of the recent history of the telecommunications company, as well as asking some important questions about what is going on with the city owned company.

Clearly they have a Public Relations problem brewing at CityWest (and perhaps at City Hall as well), as accountability seems non existent and credibility is dwindling as the silence continues.

Considering the fact that it’s the goodwill (not to mention the financial contributions) of the people of Prince Rupert that makes the company tick, they may wish to be a little more open and less secretive about how they are going about their business.

The shareholders (who are also the customers) are waiting for some indication that the company that they are frequently told is theirs, really does belong to them and is receptive to their concerns.

LACK OF INFORMATION RINGS ALARM BELLS
By Leanne Ritchie
View Askewed
The Daily News Editorial Page
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Page 4

When the City of Prince Rupert incorporated CityWest in the summer of 2005, former administrator Victor Kumar made two statements that have proven false.

First, he said the newly incorporated company would hold annual meetings that would be open to the public and all the public would be encouraged to attend to find out how their asset was doing.

Council backed him up, saying that after incorporation, the asset would still be “public” and the people of Prince Rupert would still get information through council who would act as the formal shareholders.

“We hope the public will participate (in the annual meetings),” he said. “It’s their company. It’s owned by the taxpayer.”

Despite a requirement for annual meetings in its articles of incorporation, CityWest’s board has had no such meetings in the two years since the company was incorporated and the public has gone from receiving every little tiny detail of the company’s operations to knowing absolutely nothing.

Secondly, Kumar said the company had to be incorporated – changed from a department of the city to a private company – in order to remain competitive. It was the only way the taxpayer’s would retain their $2 million dividend.

Well, as new CEO Dan Rodin finally outlined at council last week, not only did the city receive only half of the $2 million divided in 2006, they only received half again in 2007.

All this freaks me out. First off, clearly as taxpayers we have been lied to. I can get more information from Telus and Rogers quarterly reports than I can about CityWest. It should be noted even the port corporation – as a business owned by the taxpayer – opens its books once a year to the public as a legal requirement.

Secondly, we were not consulted on, or even informed in a timely manner, about the decision to half the city’s dividend for the past two years. And we have not had the opportunity to question council about the company’s operations.

(How much did the fibre link to Terrace cost? How much has been invested in new capital? How much debt does the company have?)

Consider that this decision would have resulted in the city being able to decrease taxes for the past two years, rather than increasing them.

In 2007, the city increased the taxes it was collecting from residents by $360,000, or 3.2 per cent. In 2006, it increased taxes by $516,000 or 4.8 per cent.

That increase would have been covered off by just one year of the full dividend being paid.

This leads me to enquire why wasn’t the dividend paid Council says it was because CityWest is in a period of growth, but how would anyone know since we have not seen the company’s annual financial statements.

We don’t know that it could not have been paid, we don’t know if it wasn’t paid to pay for assets or to pay off the $23.5 million loan the company took to buy Monarch. We don’t know anything and that’s a disgrace.

People should be outraged about this- they’ve been lied to and left blind when it comes to an important legacy left to them by the city’s founders, a municipally-owned telephone company. It’s time to pick up the phone and demand some answers.

CityWest said to be confident as Rogers closes in on the Northwest

With word that Rogers Wireless is about to embark on a multi million dollar adventure across Northern BC, Prince Rupert’s CityWest isn’t ready to run up the white flag of surrender, in fact according to a front page story in the Daily News, they are looking a Rogers arrival as an opportunity to potentially gain a new customer.

In an interesting twist to the arrival of competition, CityWest is hoping to that Rogers will sign a contract to utilize the fibre optic network between Prince Rupert and Terrace, a move which may take some of the sting out anticipated defections by some residents anxious to test out the wide array of toys that Rogers has offered in the rest of Canada.

In fact, the arrival of Rogers will be a welcome development for the thousands of cruise ship passengers and the number of business travelers who frequently arrive in town and suddenly discover that their electronic gizmos are but expensive paper weights in the northwest. Rob Brown of CityWest is taking the approach that the arrival of Rogers will be a good thing for Prince Rupert and perhaps will be relieved that he and his staff will no longer have to field angry phone calls or phone store visits from complaining out of towners, blaming CityWest for the lack of signal for their phones and devices.

The one advantage that CityWest will be able to offer local users that Rogers can’t match will be the bundling of services such as phone, internet and cablevision, which they say they will be able to offer to local residents at significant savings.

The background on the upcoming quest for your cell phones, hearts and wallets was found on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.

CONFIDENT CITYWEST SAYS IT’S READY FOR ROGER’S CHALLENGE
Local telecom firm says competition will bring out the best for customers
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Pages one and three

The arrival of Rogers Wireless communications in the Northwest this November is not all bad news for CityWest, said Rob Brown, CityWest general manager.

“We are hopeful they will sign a contract to utilize our fibre network between Prince Rupert and Terrace to connect their systems. I don’t think we have signed the contract just yet for it but they are eager to do that,” said Brown.

On Friday, Rogers announced it will spend $10 million to expand its Global System for Mobile communications, (GSM) wireless voice and data network, from Prince George to Prince Rupert.

The first phase of the network expansion will bring Rogers Wireless service to Prince Rupert and Terrace in November of this year, with the towns of Smithers, Kitimat and Hazleton set to follow during 2008.

This will bring the telecommunications giant into direct competition with CityWest, a municipally-owned telecommunications and television provider.

Having Rogers as a customer on the CityWest fibre link will help offset some of the retail loss CityWest may suffer.

“It’s good for Prince Rupert and good for the Port of Prince Rupert that Rogers is coming,” said Brown.

“As far as the impact on CityWest, it will, I assume, take away some of our customers. We are just hopeful our plans will be as competitive if not more competitive, certainly bundling all our services make it more economical.”

When business people and tourists arrive in Prince Rupert, it is a common sight to see some shaking their cell phones, trying to figure out why the technology won’t work.

“The news of them coming is definitely good for Prince Rupert. There is a demand for that type of service, the GSM technology that they have, it’s actually kind of nice for us because were being blamed for their phones not working here,” said Brown.

“Rogers is a significant player in the Canadian marketplace and there are a lot of phones out there that in Prince Rupert don’t work.”

In addition, CityWest will be able to compete in the digital text and Blackberry market.

The company announced this summer it would have those services available by this October.

“With our coverage and our packages and our recent announcement as well about having Blackberry service… it will certainly help us compete with them on a level playing field,” said Brown.

CityWest has been working on its new bundling packages for some time and Brown believes the company will offer significant savings to customers using multiple CityWest services.

Despite the company’s large size this is an area where Rogers won’t be able to compete, he said.

“Rogers is a formidable carrier, is very aggressive and has a large pocket book for marketing But in the end I think it will be good. Competition is always good,” said Brown.

“This will be some incentive, if you have all of our package there will be some significant savings.”

Second thoughts on CityWest?

CityWest the city owned telephone, cable and internet provider is finding that the process to incorporation is a rather slow and somewhat secretive one. The Daily news featured the latest developments from the Third avenue communications company as it misses a dividend payment, neglects to hold required annual meetings and raises the flag of interest of at least a few folks in town.

Considering one of the goals of the current city council was a more transparent form of governance, the current debate over the state of CityWest is proving to be a bit more of a challenge that residents might have hoped for when incorporation was first suggested a few years back.

One Prince Rupert councilor is concerned that the city is beginning to lose control over its telephone company. At last Monday’s city council meeting, Councillor Joy Thorkelson expressed her fears that the changes to the articles of incorporation are providing CityWest with too much power to be placed in the hands of its directors and reducing the city’s control over the telephone, cable and internet provider in the city.

CityWest has always been high on the radar of local citizens and now with its expansion to points east of Prince Rupert through its past purchase of Monarch Cablevision there are many in the city feeling that they are losing their grip on the long time Rupert institution.

With its expansion into the Cable world, Citywest borrowed 23 million dollars to purchase the Cable provider and skipped its annual 2 million dividend payment to the city of Prince Rupert for 2006. The city says that the company will be playing “catch up” on the payment over the next three years.

The Daily News provided an examination of the issue including the concerns of Councillor Thorkelson as the headline story in Friday’s paper.

COUNCILLOR FEARS CITY IS LOSING CONTROL OF PHONE COMPANY
Board of Directors given too much power for councilors comfort over the city’s long time cash cow
By Christian Webber
The Daily News
Friday, August 17, 2007
Pages one and three

City council is seeking a legal opinion on whether or not CityWest directors can make their own appointments to the board and get off council’s leash.

City council adopted new articles of incorporation for the city-owned telephone and Internet utility on Monday, but not with total comfort they would still retain control of the company.

“I think that the articles of incorporation give far too much power to the directors and take way power from the city,” said Coun. Joy Thorkelson.

“Mainly it has to do with replacement of directors and directors picking their own replacements and I disagree with that.”
The clause of concern is the article of incorporation states that if the shareholders, ie. The city, do not move to fill vacancies on the board of directors, the board of directors may move to fill those positions.

While Coun. Tony Briglio pointed out that the hammer still lies with Council – ultimately if council wants they can replace all the directors on a moment’s notice – city council agreed to get a legal opinion on the clause.”

“The directors have enough power to appoint themselves, and I think that the only people who should be able to appoint directors are the city,” said Thorkelson.

Maintaining control of the company that has long been the city’s cash cow was on of the top two concerns expressed by the public when the city first proposed incorporating CityWest in 2005. CityWest used to operate as a department of the city and the city receives a $2 million dividend from the company each year.

Since CityWest incorporated, and borrowed $23 million to buy Monarch Cable, city staff said it skipped the payment in 2006 and will be playing catch up on that payment over the next three years.

Despite concerns, council signed off on the articles as they stand because to interim appointees have been waiting six months to become full members of the board.

“What’s happened is we have directors that council has appointed but haven’t officially been able to act as directors because the articles of incorporation hadn’t been passed by council. If it didn’t happen last night it would have taken another six months,” said Thorkelson.

According to the articles of incorporation, of the seven members of the board, one must be a senior manager at the city and three must be residents.

“To ensure that everybody is comfortable, we are going to set up a time in the next few weeks with a lawyer and go through those concerns to make sure that the language properly addresses the concerns that were raised, and if necessary we’ll make changes,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

Meanwhile, the CityWest board currently lacks a chair as former Bill Belsey is leaving town.

Pond said the new board chair is currently unknown, however the board is expected to make that selection soon.

“It’s up to CityWest to announce, it should be soon since they just passed the new Articles at the Council meeting,” said Pond.


CITYWEST FAILS TO HOLD MEETINGS
The Daily News
Friday, August 17, 2007
Page three

Despite promising the taxpayers they could have input and information on CityWest through annual general meetings, neither the company’s board of directors, or its city council shareholders have called a meeting in two years.

The company was incorporated in the summer of 2005 and according to the articles of incorporation, needed to hold an annual general meeting 18 months after that date.

The city can defer the meeting under the business incorporation Act, however they are supposed to hold an annual general meeting once a year.

Province and Northern Health sign up for CityWest fibre service

The new fibre link to Terrace has brought CityWest some new customers, as both the Provincial government and Northern Health have agreed to lease space on the fibre connection along Highway 16. CityWest also took the opportunity of its business announcement to reassure Rupertites that enhanced services are on their way to the North coast. In addition to the anticipated arrival of Digital cable this fall, CityWest hopes to be offering mobile data services by late 2007.

Of course, many citizens might just be content with faster upload and download speeds, if ancillary information gleaned from local users and chat boards are any indication.

Both the Daily News and The Northern View offered up their interpretations of the latest developments from CityWest.

NEW LINK GIVES CITY FIBRE IN ITS HIGH TECH DIET
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Pages One and Three

CityWest has announced two new customers for its new fibre link to Terrace.

Both the provincial government and Northern Health have agreed to lease space on the company’s fibre link that runs along Highway 16, between Prince Rupert and Terrace.

Rob Brown, CityWest general manager, said that prior to the installation of the fibre link last summer, Prince Rupert’s communication services were carried via a microwave to Terrace.

The new link will allow CityWest to look at offering new services, such as digital TV, as well as providing the means for the company to address future growth in the community.

“The fibre link doesn’t provide new service for Prince Rupert on its own, it enables CityWest or any other company to provide the service,” said Brown.

“Basically, the fibre link makes it possible and opens up the opportunity for new service, just as it will open up the opportunity for new industry or organizations like Northern Health or the provincial government to offer new services.

“The message is that these new services were not possible for Prince Rupert without this fibre link.”

CityWest plans to offer Digital TV to its Prince Rupert customers in late summer or early fall and offer mobile data services (e mail services through the cellular network) planned for late 2007.

Apart from opening access to new services in the future, the fibre link has also been cited as vital to serving growing communications needs for a community that is on the verge of economic and population growth, said Brown.

“With studies indicating increased jobs, increased population, and new home starts rising for Prince Rupert in the future, the fibre link became vital to CityWest’s ability to offer more television channels, or more internet connections in the future,” said Brown.

“The fibre link was need for CityWest to be able to continue to serve Prince Rupert’s communications needs in the future.”

The fibre link did suffer some flood damage earlier this spring when the waters of the Skeena broke its banks and flooded Highway 16, Brown said any outage will cause some problems, however having the fibre link in addition to the microwave link means the region does have some back-up capability.

The fibre link kept the community connected twice through the winter months when there were outages on the microwave connection due to storms and equipment failures.

“Any outage is going to cause some problems but having two separate connections, the fibre link and the microwave, ensures that critical communications will continue,” said Brown.

“This was not the case prior to the fibre-link where one outage would wipe out all communications to the area.”

Navigata Communications Inc. was CityWest’s first major customer on the fiber link.


Fibre link to enable text messaging in Rupert
By Brooke Ward
The Northern View
Jul 18 2007

The announcement of two large Fibre-link deals last Thursday had representatives at CityWest seeing the future in high definition as the company revealed future plans for uses of the Fibre-link and crews continue to work around town to increase the bandwidth to enable customers to access Digital Cable TV.

Both the Provincial government and Northern Health Authority have leased space on the company’s fibre-link along Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert, which is beneficial to all parties involved explained CityWest General Manger Rob Brown.

“Selling them services means increased revenue for us, but at the same time it gives them the opportunity to allow better connectivity to their local services,” he said.

And they may not be the only companies benefiting from the Fibre-link in the future, suggests Brown.

“Whether it be another telephone company or any business, the Fibre-link opens up the opportunity to new industry or organizations.”

In the past, all of Prince Rupert’s communication services were carried by a microwave route that is still operational today, albeit at it’s capacity, making it a limiting factor for development of new communications services in the area.

“With studies showing increased jobs, increased population, and new home starts rising for Prince Rupert into the future, the fibre-link became vital to CityWest’s ability to offer more television channels or more internet connections or faster internet connections in the future,” explained Brown, adding that the fibres are virtually limitless.

“It depends on what you put on the end of them, but if one becomes full we have 48 fibres in there. It really is a novel piece of technology.”

The Fibre-link was the first step towards the Digital Cable TV planned for early fall and is also essential to the mobile data services, such as text-messaging capability and Blackberry devices, expected to be available in Prince Rupert as early as the end of the year.

“I’ve done some checking around with businesses in town and they don’t see a demand for [mobile data services],” said Brown.

“There is going to be more, depending on the job that you have and the access that you need. There is already the demand amongst visitors and tourists.”

Brown also believes in the theory ‘if you build it, they will come,’ particularly among the teenaged cell-phone carrying crowd.

“Texting is the number one feature, beyond voice, used on cell phones,” he explained.

“I don’t see it as a big thing in Rupert, but the opportunity will be there for them if they want or need it.”

Corrections and Errors department: thanx to a tip from a faithful reader, we learned of a spelling error in the above slug line for this story. So to make things clear, they were not singing at CityWest, well maybe they were at one time, but not when we heard of this story. The correct headline is now in place, CityWest is no doubt thankful that two government agencies have SIGNED to lease some space, and not that they sat down to sing.

Citywest begins local preparations for the digital universe

They launch their digital service in Terrace this week, an opportunity to trade in the 60 channel old wave for a brand new era of television viewing, featuring the 300 plus digital world of expanded cablevision.

For those that held out from the satellite dish revolution, the change will be a rather amazing experience, channels before considered but mere rumours will magically appear on their television screens on an expanded tier of available channels. And of course it comes with an expanded tier of pricing to go with it.

Now that CityWest has finally taken care of Terrace and Thornhill, they can turn their attention to Prince Rupert which is expected to enjoy the digital wave later this summer.

The Daily News featured the details in Wednesday’s paper, about the newest addition to the available options for your free time.

Rupert to tune in to digital cable
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Page one

CityWest is making inroads into new markets by launching its digital cable service in Terrace, with the Prince Rupert launch scheduled for later this summer.

The launch of CityWest Digital Cable TV means that cable customers in Terrace and Thornhill will now have two options, they can continue to subscribe to regular cable service like they do now, or choose to upgrade to the new digital system.

"Over the past year, CityWest has made a large investment in building infrastructure in Terrace - first with the fibre-link that interconnected Terrace with Prince Rupert, and second with the upgrade of the local fibre and cable network in Terrace and Thornhill. These upgrades mean better quality services, but also mean new cutting edge services," said Rob Brown general manager with CityWest.

Earlier this month, CityWest announced it was getting ready to make use of its new fibre optic cable connection along Highway 16 to bring 300 new channels to its customers and began an upgrade of its local cable television plant.

The upgrade project in Prince Rupert will run at least two months from start to finish. Once the cable plant upgrade is finished, CityWest will offer the same service locally that it just launched in Terrace.

Ledcor Technical Services (LTS) spent last summer installing the casing and cable underground along the length of Highway 16 in order to be able to provide residents with state-of-the-art technology.

The project was completed last November.

The 150-kilometre fibre link spans some very rough terrain, but now stands as the only fibre link along the Terrace-Prince Rupert corridor.

Fortunately, it was installed underground so it was not impacted by the recent mudslide.
And should the Highway be open for the weekend, anyone heading to Terrace can preview the new service at an open house at the technical office located at 2709 Kalum St. The open house runs on Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on Saturday from 11a.m. to 5 p.m.

In order to subscribe to Digital Cable Tv, customers will need to rent or purchase one of the CityWest Digital Cable Terminals. The Digital Terminals are manufactured by Motorola and come in three varieties - a standard digital terminal, a digital terminal with built in digital recorder, and a high-definition terminal with built in recorder. Customers who have a terminal on one TV in their home would also have the regular 60 channel cable line-up on all of their additional TV's at no extra charge.

CityWest’s 300 channel universe on the horizon

CityWest is in the process of upgrading its cablevision plant in Prince Rupert, all part of the plan to introduce more television choices for those that remain linked to cablevision over the ever growing satellite options locally.

The city owned cable and Telephone Company is hoping that the introduction of the expanded television lineup will help to reduce the slippage of television viewers who migrate to Star Choice or ExpressVu.

The Daily news previewed some of their plans in Wednesday’s paper.

CityWest set to offer a world of choices
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

CityWest is getting ready to make use of its new fibre optic cable connection along Highway 16 to bring 300 new channels to its customers.

The company announced yesterday that it has begun an upgrade of its local cable television plant.

Once completed, the new cable plant will mean improved quality of service for current cable television customers, said CityWest. The new plant will also enable CityWest to prepare to launch new services in Prince Rupert such as digital cable television services.

The upgrade project will run at least two months from start to finish.

"We're making customers aware now that there will be some brief interruptions to cable service as our crews are working in their area, but we will work quickly to ensure that the interruption is as brief as possible," said Chad Cunningham, manager of sales and marketing for CityWest.
Once the cable plant upgrade is finished, CityWest will use its fibre-optic line to carry almost 300 TV channels to Prince Rupert, including some high-definition channels.

CityWest expects to have Digital Cable TV available locally by Aug. 1.

"Customers will have an option to either keep the regular cable service they have now, or to upgrade their service to the new digital system," said Cunningham.

Ledcor Technical Services (LTS) spent last summer installing the casing and cable underground along the length of Highway 16 in order to be able to provide residents with state-of-the-art technology. The project was completed last November.

The 150-kilometre fibre link spans some very rough terrain, but now stands as the only fibre link along the Terrace-Prince Rupert corridor.

Owned and operated in Northern B.C., with its head office in Prince Rupert, CityWest serves customers in Prince Rupert, Port Edward, Terrace, Thornhill, Kitimat, Smithers, Telkwa, Houston, Stewart, Kispiox and the Hazeltons.

Formerly known as CityTel, CityWest has been a telephone service provider since 1910. In 2005, CityWest purchased Monarch Cablesystems for $23 million to become a provider of Cable TV and Cable Internet services. In January, CityWest also began offering Internet services in Port Edward.

The new fibre-optic cable linking Prince Rupert to Terrace includes Port Edward, and the line runs into the midst of the community, before connecting with the cable lines.

CityWest examines the communications landscape ahead

With the government making changes to the regulations regarding deregulation of the telephone industry, CityWest is examining the impact that it may have on its expansion plans.

One project that CityWest is looking at is entering the Terrace market as a telephone service provider. With last years purchase of Monarch Cable, CityWest now has an entry into that market that they wish to expand upon.

CityWest's potential Terrace moves, come as the possibility of competition in the cellular world in Prince Rupert sits in the exploratory stage. Last year Rogers Communications announced that they were interested in providing service to the Prince Rupert area, though to this date little progress seems to have been made on that project.

The CityWest expansion plans however, could prove to be a controversial move in its home base, as local's express frustration with some aspects of local service in Prince Rupert such as Internet and cellular services. Two particular hot spots which can get a Rupertite rather agitated at times.

The Daily News examined the company's reaction to the deregulation and where it may lead the Prince Rupert based communications company in the future.

Alarm bells ring for phone companies
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, April 13, 2007

In the David and Goliath-like competition between small companies such as CityWest and billion-dollar telecoms firms like Telus and Rogers, the federal government has just handed Goliath a shield.

But the decision is not nearly as bone crushing to small telecoms as they thought it was going to be, said Rob Brown, CityWest general manager.

Last week, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier announced he is forging ahead with his controversial plan to deregulate pricing for local telephone services.

“The decision was softened a bit from where it was originally going,” said Brown, whose company is looking at expanding into the Terrace market.

“What it originally meant was for a small guy, if they wanted to go to Terrace to compete against Telus, instantly Telus could do whatever they wanted ... to win that customer back — deregulation or forebance they call it.”

However, government decided to provide an 18-month window before telecoms can deregulate their land-line prices.

“The 18-month transition period given to smaller competitors to enable them to build sustainable market share in their communities will help ensure that consumers in Canada’s non-urban areas will be able to share the benefits real competition will bring,” said Alyson Townsend, president and CEO of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), an organization representing Canada’s regional telecom companies including CityWest.

With its purchase of Monarch Cable Systems last year, Brown said it makes sense for the Rupert-based company to expand into Terrace because it already owns cable infrastructure in the area.

“Without this change of regulation, I could go there and offer very nice service at a very competitive rate and Telus could instantly come in and try to win that customer back,” said Brown. “Telus could offer and lose money in Terrace and that in our mind wouldn’t be fair to us or the customer because what that would do is eliminate the competitor again. This at least gives us 18 months to put everything together.”

CityWest was founded back in 1910 as a Rupert-based telephone company offering local phone service.

However, last year, the city turned the company into a corporation in order to try and meet the competition anticipated from Telus and Rogers in the northwestern market.

Since then, both Rogers and Telus have begun preparations to offer additional services in the region and this most recent decision by the federal government makes it harder for CityWest to fight back.

Although the decision forces large telecoms to keep their prices stable for 18 months, it frees large telecoms to immediately begin direct-marketing to win its customers back to moment a smaller competitor enters the ring.

“The win back rules are at the heart of the matter,” said Townsend. “Without these rules, customers will not have the opportunity to experience our members’ new competitive services before the big telcos try to win them back through bundled offers that cross-subsidize local service. That means that not all customers will see the benefits of competition, only those who switch to a competitor. You can be sure that Canada’s small cable companies will work hard to ensure that as many customers as possible switch, so as to create sustainable competitive markets in all of the areas they serve.”

The federal decision to deregulate has also been roundly criticized by the Liberal opposition as flying in the face of an earlier ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and has been criticized as an effort by the Conservatives to pander to phone giants Bell Canada and Telus.

Blame it all on the Bottleneck

CityWest has received some accolades (as well as a cheque) from Port Edward, with the introduction of internet service to the town. With a total of 85 customers logged on and clicking away, the Rupert based communications company is looking to add new customers in February as the system is put completely in place.

One concern of the company however, is a bottleneck that has occurred in Prince Rupert, which results in slow and lagging connections for the new users of Port Ed and has been the topic of many a discussion locally for a while with users in Prince Rupert as well . With slow service reported at “peak times”, many have been rather frustrated with the troubles that pop up during the day.

Those of us sharing in the joys of the wired world join in welcoming our newest members of connected family, lets all hope that CityWest has us cruising along the internet at mach speed in short order, otherwise they may find that those 85 new customers will lose that new user smell rather quickly and be quick to express their concerns over speed and reliability.

The Northern View had full details on the newest services provided by CityWest and how it has been received in Port Edward.


High speed ‘net doing well in Port Ed
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
Jan 31 2007

CityWest’s cable Internet service is now up and running in Port Edward, and all indications are that the expansion has been a success.

“The initial list was up to 70 names that we collected prior to us beginning to bring Internet on the cable grid into Port Edward. That number has since grown,” CityWest General Manager Rob Brown told Port Edward Council at its January 23 meeting.

“It looks like we currently have a total of 85 customers, which is very good and I am very pleased with that number…By early February the system will be completely in place and we will be able to add new customers on a call-in basis.”

While Brown noted that there is one trailer park in town that needs new wiring, which should be done by the end of the week, he said that the speed of the Internet has been good for customers in Port Edward. However, he did say that there were some concerns about bandwidth bottlenecks

“The only concern we have as a service provider in Prince Rupert and here in Port Edward is the amount of bandwidth we can send out of Prince Rupert,” he said.

“If the service is slow at peak periods, that is the problem. It is not the modem or your system, but the bottleneck out of Prince Rupert.”

Following Brown’s presentation, Mayor Dave MacDonald and the rest of council presented him with a cheque for $20,000 which covers the district’s commitment to the project.

Dis-connected from the world

The famous winds of the North coast have finally arrived, having apparently been redirected southbound the last three weeks or so and with their arrival came troubles for Telus and by way of location, CityWest.

Monday and Tuesday saw maddening slow internet speeds, non operating interac machines and in many instances an inability to make or receive a long distance call. The culprit was a problem with the Mount Hays relay tower which suffered a power surge sometime at the height of the nasty weather of Sunday night or Monday morning.

The recently completed fibre optic link between Prince Rupert and Terrace laid by CityWest apparently had no impact one way or the other on the problems of Telus (nor offered solutions for Rupertites), though considering internet service is down to possibly the slowest speeds seen in a while, you might wonder why that traffic couldn’t be re-routed along that corridor and what services are being used with that bit of technological wizardry.

For the current problems however, all fingers point towards Telus and their shaky platforms along the Northwest, from here to Prince George it seems we’re but a falling tree or heavy gust of wind away from isolation.

The Daily News had full details in the Tuesday edition.

STORMS HAVING A HEAVY TOLL ON PHONE SERVICE
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Page one

Winds whipping up to 90 kilometres an hour Monday morning have damaged the Telus radio link on top of Mount Hays that connects Prince Rupert to the rest of the world, seriously slowing down Interac, long distance and internet service.

What that means is with only six shopping days left until Christmas, forget about pulling out the plastic, Commerce is on a cash only basis at a lot of businesses and people calling into the area with holiday greetings are less than likely to get through until the problem gets fixed, hopefully by this afternoon.

“We supply service to the community via radio link to Terrace,” said Sean Hall, spokesperson for Telus. “The site on Mount Hays failed early Monday. We dispatched a crew immediately to the site by four-by-four but they were turned back by road closures.

The weather is absolutely terrible in the area.”

Prince Rupert has been deluged with rain and then snow and then more rain with high winds during the past four days. Hall said the crew headed out this morning by snow cat with replacement equipment and hope to reach the top.

“If what they find is what we anticipate it’s going to be- some damage to the antenna up there – we should have everybody up by afternoon today. If they have to bring in extra equipment, it may be longer,” said Hall.

While any local traffic on networks run by CityWest was working, and CityWest long-distance was still working Monday, service in and out of the community on the Telus network was down to 25 percent of its normal capacity.

“We are doing what we can to get people in there and get service restored to normal as quickly as possible under some pretty miserable conditions,” said Hall.

“It’s really been a unique series of storms that has damaged our equipment up that way. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

This is the second time in less than a month that the Telus network has crashed. In late November, a loss of service affected 2,500 businesses and 50,000 Telus customers after a tree came down in Kitwanga, taking out both a BC Hydro and a Telus fibre-optic cable line and then a vehicle slammed into a pole, also near Kitwanga, causing another line to catch fire.

And Telus crews were scrambling in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island this weekend after storms cut power to a quarter of a million residents.

“It’s mostly stuff like this where we have had something blow into a piece of equipment and we are not able to gain access that is really what is causing us the most difficulty right now,” said Hall.

“We know we need to do repairs to service be we can’t get to it because of the weather.”

UPDATED DECEMBER 20, 2006:

WEATHER HAMPERS PHONE WORK
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Page one

Telus technicians restored full long-distance service to Prince Rupert around noon yesterday.
Service was disrupted early Monday when a power surge to the Telus radio transmission site on Mount Hays burned out several pieces of equipment, said Shawn Hall, a spokesperson for Telus.
“Our guys got in there by snow cat, they left at first light,” said Hall.

“They found some equipment had been burned out by a power surge and replaced it. The problem was not the repairs, but actually getting to the site.”

Telus technicians were first dispatched Monday morning in four-by-fours but were unable to access the site because of the weather.

Hall said they suspect the power surge was caused by a storm that battered the region early Monday morning.

When the site was damaged, the Telus link to the community switched to a back-up system providing about 25 per cent of the capacity normally available for long-distance calling. Local calling was not affected.

“Telus thanks its customers for their understand, and apologizes for the inconvenience,” said Hall.

Getting ready to watch TV with the Mayor

On the same day (last Friday) that the internet service crashed in Prince Rupert, the Daily News had a story on the fibre link to Terrace and how it could mean improved cable television in the city by late next year and increased business opportunities as well.

It was bit of rather unfortunate timing (even if as they said at CityWest it wasn’t their fault) as many Rupertites had spent the day bemoaning their lack of digital linkage to the outside world and were forced to deal with a string of bank machine failures that meant having to stand in line to reintroduce themselves to their local bank teller.

In the article the mayor comments on the significant investment by CityWest into the digital world and how it will result in many happy customers. While in the same article CityWest officials make a rather bold prediction that many of the residents of Rupert will be migrating back to cable from satellite once the new and improved Digital cable service is on line from CityWest.

It seems a rather odd bit of crystal ball gazing, as we’re not sure why anyone who has invested over three hundred dollars in equipment (If they have more than one connection as most do) would automatically return to the cable alternative. Not to mention the fact that the new CityWest system probably won’t be on stream until mid to late next year.

Television viewers are very much living in the now not in the soon to come, they want that Canuck’s game on Pay per view today (though offering Chicago as the opposition team of choice can’t do much for sales) same with the movies, Ultimate fighting matches, Hockey and football packages, and other plethora of channels presently only available on the dish.

Waiting the six or seven months until all is up and running may be a bit too much to ask for the entertainment starved zombies of the Northwest. There may be a bit more bleeding off of television passengers from CityWest until the new delivery bus starts to make its run next year.

The full article was presented in Friday’s Daily News.

CITYWEST PROJECT CONNECTING RUPERT
City is now linked to Terrace via fibre cable
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, November 17, 2006
Page Two

CityWest has completed its fibre link project along Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert.

“The completion of this project marks a significant achievement for CityWest,” said Chad Cunningham, sales and marketing manager for CityWest.

The 150 kilometer fibre line spans some very rough terrain, but now stands as the only fibre link along the Terrace-Prince Rupert corridor.

“During the recent Changes Brings Opportunity conference, one thing that many experts mentioned was the need for Prince Rupert to have vital communications infrastructure in place as the container port and ancillary industry develops, the fibre link is the first an most important step toward that end,’ said Cunningham.

Rob Brown, general manager of CityWest, said the company knew this infrastructure was something that Prince Rupert needed, and something that CityWest must have in order to grow.

“But when you decide to build something like this, you take a leap of faith that others will buy into it as well. Already the fibre link has introduced a new line of business for CityWest, that being leasing space on the fibre to large customers and communications carriers. We are pleased to welcome the Navigata Communications Inc., as our first major customer on this fibre link.

“Talks continue with several other customers who may rent space as well,” he said.

Brown is quick to point out however, the fibre link is also a tool that CityWest plans to use internally to provide new services in Prince Rupert and Terrace. In fact, the placement of the fibre link is only the first phase in the company’s larger plan to add new services. The second phase is to upgrade the local cable lines in both Terrace and Prince Rupert. This work is now underway and is expected to take a minimum of three to fourth months more to complete.

Once the local cable upgrade is completed, CityWest will prepare to launch new services in both Terrace and Prince Rupert starting with digital cable TV services, which are scheduled to be available by mid-2007.

“This upgrade is a significant investment for CityWest, but we are confident that the outcome will be many happy customers,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

Once available, CityWest says Digital cable TV service will bring CityWest customers a sharper better quality picture that is HDTV (High Definition Television) compatible. There will be 200+ channels, an interactive TV guide that customers control, pay per view services and more, all from a local company.

“One added benefit of Digital Cable TV vs. satellite is that receiver isn’t required for each TV, so service to additional sets is free. When we introduce digital cable TV, we anticipate many people will migrate back from satellite,” said Brown.

“As we’ve said over the past year since becoming the cable provider for the Northwest, we’ll keep our customers posted as our plans progress. 2007 will be a big year for CityWest customers in the Northwest.

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.

Port Edward on the fast track to high speed

Citywest is running a fibre network line into Port Edward, bringing the District a step closer to high speed internet access. Next up is an upgrade to the cable television lines into Port Ed that will enable the local plant there to process high speed data traffic. The third and final phase will be the installation of a state of the art Cable Modem Termination System at the Prince Rupert office that will run the high speed internet network.

Still a bit off yet, but perhaps not as far off it seems, as Citywest is accepting pre-orders for those who wish to access the service in Port Edward, the first 150 of which will receive free installation as well as a cable modem rental free for one year.

The Daily News featured all of the high speed plans in its Thursday paper.

PORT ED WIRED ABOUT SPEEDY HOOK-UPS
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Page One

CityWest has begun work that will one day see Port Edward fully integrated into the high-speed internet revolution.

“(We’ve) been fielding questions about when the residents can sign up for this service, so this announcement is welcome news,” said Mayor Dave MacDonald. “We would encourage all residents to sign up as soon as possible to take advantage of the free installation and cable modem.”

The first phase of the expansion plans is to run fibre-optic lines into Port Edward, On Sept. 25, CityWest began trying into their existing fibre network along Highway 16 and running a line into Port Edward. The second phase of the expansion plan is to upgrade the cable television lines in 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. 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.

“High-speed internet over cable is an extremely fast internet service, perfect for downloading large files quickly or watching streaming video over the internet,” said Rob Brown, CityWest’s general manager. “CityWest’s general manager. “CityWest’s service offering in Port Edward will be the same as what they offer to cable internet customers in other communities.”

In July 2006, the District of Port Edward announced that they had awarded 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.