CityWest is expanding again, this time to southern areas of British Columbia for the first time in its 111 years history, the company announced in a public statement, on July 12.
Previously, growth of the Prince Rupert owned company focussed on Northern B.C. from the coastal city east toward Vanderhoof.
The expansion to the unceded traditional territory of the Klahoose First Nation will begin this month as CityWest begins “dropping in” to Cortes Island under a partnership with Twincomm.
For the first stage of the expansion, CityWest will be going to doors and mailboxes in a ‘drop-in’ campaign to sign up residents and ask to drop on their property. A drop is an infrastructure required from the street to the customer’s premises. Drops are scheduled to be installed in October and will link customers to the bandwidth through the Connected Coast project in December.
The agreement in principal with Twincomm, a Cortes Island internet service provider will see well-known resident Constantinos (Dino) Tsakonas, who has been hired by CityWest, as it’s Regional Manager for the area.
“For me, this feels like a homecoming of sorts,” Tsakonas said. “I used to be a happy customer of the company, back when it was called CityTel and before I moved to Cortes Island, and I know how much of a value they put into customer service. There’s a great community on Cortes Island who deserves the very best fibre-to-the-home services, and I’m looking forward to working with the CityWest team to bring that here.”
Located in the Strait of Georgia between Campbell River and the Mainland, Cortes is the home of the Klahoose First Nation, and the residential areas of Whaletown, Mansons Landing, and Seaford. All communities will one day be served by CityWest’s fibre-to-the-home services, the communication company stated.
“Expanding south is the result of a lot of hard work by everyone in our company, as well as the strong support of our partners on Cortes Island,” Stefan Woloszyn, CEO of CityWest said. “We’re looking forward to beginning the journey with everyone to provide great Internet, TV, and phone services.”
CityWest worked closely with Strathcona Regional District as a key partner to making this happen the media statement read.
“As a partner in the Connected Coast project, we are excited that Cortes Island is the first community to have fibre in the ground,” David Leitch, CAO of Strathcona Regional District said. “We are another step closer to improved connectivity for rural and remote coastal communities. Cortes Island residents will soon be ready to plug into the Connected Coast infrastructure and realize the benefits of reliable high-speed internet.”
Â
K-J Millar | JournalistÂ
Send K-J email
Like the The Northern View on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
