As much as $3.8 million in provincial funding plus investments from companies like TELUS and CityWest are helping connect residents in Nanoose to higher internet speeds. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

high speeds

‘Future-proof’ fibre optic connectivity coming to Nanoose area

Nov 9, 2022 | 9:04 AM

NANOOSE BAY — Faster connection speeds for home internet are coming to more remote and rural residents on the central Island.

Up to $3.8 million in provincial money, coupled with private company investments will connect over 600 homes on the central Island to fibre optic internet by the end of next year.

Shaye Draper, general manager for TELUS on Vancouver Island, told NanaimoNewsNOW they’re increasing the scope of their fibre network in the region after successful build-outs over the last decade.

“We’re ultimately building out or branching further from our core network and then going out and being able to connect houses with fibre optic cable directly to their home in areas which didn’t have access before.”

It will connect to work done in Lantzville and Nanaimo over the last few years and existing networks through Qualicum Beach and parts of Parksville.

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Download speeds on the fibre optic lines are billed at around 50 megabits per second, enough to comfortably stream ultra-high definition video on two devices simultaneously.

Cable will be run along existing infrastructure lines for roughly 2.3 kilometres of Hwy. 19, as well as a section of Ross Rd. in Nanoose.

TELUS is eyeing completion by the end of 2023, but Draper said they’re hoping to move up the timeline.

He said the project sets up the region to grow and expand almost beyond limit.

“That fibre is future-proof forever. What we do on either end of that, the technology you add, is really what’s going to constrain your capabilities.”

TELUS is working with CityWest to build out the infrastructure, which will also include work around Sproat Lake and near the Comox Valley.

Board chair Bob Long likened the build-out during a Tuesday, Nov. 8 meeting, to the initial run of electrical lines.

“Once the infrastructure was there, then all of a sudden people started investing in electric services. So now you have an electric stove, a telephone, all those things that weren’t really possible until that infrastructure was there.”

The central Island project is part of a provincial government commitment to connect remote, rural and Indigenous communities in B.C. to high-speed internet by 2027.

It builds upon an $830 million commitment between the province and federal government to offer similar services nationwide.

“The communities…are homes, are people who are looking forward to being connected to reliable, high-speed internet so they can remain connected to their family and friends, that can access those digital services and they can participate in the digital economy,” Lisa Beare, B.C. minister of citizens services, said.

Telegraph Cove, areas of the Kyuquot First Nation, Winter Harbour and the community of Van Anda on Texada Island are also included in pending upgrades which will see over 1,800 homes get access.

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