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Phase one of LLB County's $6 million fibre-optic program nears completion

Lac Biche County and Telus’s PureFibre partnership is in the final stages of completion.

LAC LA BICHE - Lac Biche County and Telus’s PureFibre  partnership is in the final stages of completion.

The project with the private communications company uses $6 million of municipal funding to create fibre-connected broadband access to the urban centres of Lac La Biche and Plamondon, as well as some neighbouring subdivisions.

The first phase of what could be an overall communications upgrade for the region, will also include a new cell tower to be built in the Hylo area.

Representatives from the company updated Lac La Biche County council about the final portions of the project on Tuesday.

Lac La Biche West and the Sentinel Industrial Park area have been completed, while the areas south of the railway in the hamlet will be completed at the end of the month. Areas in the hamlet of Lac La Biche north of the railway tracks are slated for completion at the end of December. The Beaver Lake hamlet, Holowachuk Estates and the hamlet of Plamondon will also see fibre-optic service available at the end of December.

In all instances where the service has been made available, connections have been made directly to homes and businesses.

“We are on schedule… we are actively turning services on now and have been for the past month or so,” said Brian Bettis, the communication company’s general manager for the region.

The new cell tower for the Hylo area — hoped to remove the ‘dead spots’ in cellular service between Lac La Biche, Buffalo Lake and Boyle — will be set in a location that was meticulously chosen.

“We went through an exhaustive assessment of network capacity, residence density and areas of coverage. It looked at every location that was viable within the catchment of the area that we committed to—which is the Noral, Caslan and Hylo area,” Bettis told councillors after being asked if there was a better location.

The approximate cost for the new cell tower, he said, takes up approximately one-sixth of the funding agreement between the company and the municipality.

Included in the update from Bettis, was an additional ask for future partnerships with the company to create further connectivity enhancements for the municipality.

Provincially, Premier Jason Kenney and official Opposition leader Rachel Notley have committee millions of dollars to securing reliable and affordable internet access to every Albertan.

 

 

 

 

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