CityWest to face high speed competition in Terrace market

The quest for the valuable dollars of Internet users is going to heat up soon in the Terrace market, as Prince Rupert based CityWest will now face a renewed challenge from the larger national communication company Telus.

An announcement out of Terrace on Tuesday highlights the interest that the major communication company is taking in the Northwest, with plans to introduce their own high speed connection in the region.

In a mass mailing to residents of that community, Telus outlined its plans to bring its high speed Optik network to over ninety percent of homes and businesses in the city. The new service will provide download speeds of up to 150 megabytes per second through its fibre optic service.

In the weeks to come, residents and business owners will be offered a free connection to the network, while no date towards full operation of the system was outlined this week, indications suggest that a September 1st launch date is the target.

An expansion of the Telus High Speed networks is set to
offer Terrace residents with new communication options

The City of Terrace hailed the announcement as a welcome addition to the city's communication options, with Mayor Carol Leclerc noting that the service will help to make Terrace an attractive location for investment.

CFTK TV provided some background on the new service as part of Tuesday's evening newscast.

The new service for Terrace will be of some interest to CityWest, the City of Prince Rupert owned communication has been on a large scale expansion plan of its own across the Northwest in recent years, with Terrace one of its major targets.

Currently CityWest offers their Quantum Internet service as well as other Internet plans in the community.

In addition to Prince Rupert/Port Edward and Terrace, CityWest also provides Internet service to Kitimat, Hazelton and Smithers/Telkwa

Should the Telus high speed plans prove popular in Terrace/Thornhill, CityWest could find that some of its current customer base will be migrating away. Leading to the need for more incentives and product options for those communities where CityWest is in direct competition with Telus.

That could present a situation that would have an impact on CityWest financial sheets and could possibly also deliver an impact on its dividend forecasts for the City of Prince Rupert.

More on Communication services on the North Coast can be found on our archive page here.