ABC Communications says it’s completed deploying fixed 4G LTE Internet services to a number of rural communities, including Lac la Hache, 92 Mile, Bridge Lake, Green Lake, Sheridan Lake, Lone Butte, 100 MIle House, Horse Lake, Gateway and Canim Lake, among others.
“The project criteria set by the federal government at the time was to supply five Mbps services to these communities. However, ABC Communications committed to supply up to 15 Mbps as part of its project scope. Since then, ABC has expanded services in many of these communities to 25 Mbps because of the scalability of the LTE systems they installed as part of this project.”
Dubbed the Future is Now Project, the work was made possible with the support of the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and ABC Communications.
In December, they announced similar upgrades would be coming for Deka Lake and Clinton.
RELATED: High-speed internet announced for Deka Lake, Clinton and Wells
Earlier in February, it also announced that it was working with up with Huawei Technologies Inc. to bring speeds of up to 100 Mbps to Lac la Hache (there has been some discussion about whether Canada will key allies in banning Huawei over security concerns).
RELATED: Lac la Hache will be getting double the internet speed soon
The currently completed project was started in the fall of 2015.
“Thanks to the work of ABC Communications, more than two dozen communities in central and northern B.C. have enhanced connections with the rest of the province and beyond. Reliable internet is so intertwined in day-to-day life that it is a necessary tool for people and their businesses to participate in the digital economy. These improvements will greatly benefit regional economies and emergency services. Northern Development is eager to see the positive effects of these infrastructure upgrades on individuals, communities and businesses throughout B.C.” said Joel McKay, CEO of Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Falko Kadenbach, Vice President of ABC Communications acknowledged the importance of government funding in making the improvements.
“The speed at which telecommunications companies are investing in their networks to supply the ever-increasing consumption of bandwidth is significant and only possible in rural and remote markets through the continuous commitment by the provincial and federal government to bridge the digital divide in Canada. Our next challenge is to reach the new 50 Mbps targets set by the Federal Government by 2021.”
The other communities where work has been completed are Burns Lake, Cluculz Lake, Tache, Yekooche, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, Horsefly, Quesnel, McLeese Lake, Dugan Lake, Bear Lake, Hixon, Prince George, Beaverdell, Rock Creek, Lumby, Little Fort, Copper Creek and Walhachin
