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Telus fibre-optic delivery delayed

Part shortage causes delay in Telus' fibre project.

The North Island will not see the hoped-for boost in internet connectivity in time for Christmas, Telus representatives announced last week.

The company had hoped to finalize the move to fibre connectivity for much of the North Island ahead of the festive season but an essential piece of equipment has been placed on back-order by the manufacturer, causing a delay on the project’s completion.

Vancouver Island General Manager Ray Lawson said that the equipment was required to complete connections within the Port McNeill central office. The delay places the project into a blackout window wherein the company cannot make changes to the network.

Lawson projected a January 26 date for initial activation, followed by testing and account migration to the new fibre system. He said the move to the new route was expected to be completed by the second week in February.

The project’s completion should bring an immediate boost for customers able to take advantage of the new system. Lawson said did not yet have a date for the lifting of the stop-sell order currently in place.

The Telus representative plans to visit the North Island early in the new year to address the Regional District and councils.

The Regional District’s Pat English, Manager of Economic Development, said that the agenda for the RD’s meeting was not yet finalized, but that he expected the discussions to cover “the various plans (Telus) would offer, the roll-out to individual communities and the leasing of bandwidth to ISPs.”

“When they were here in the spring we asked Telus about plans to bring high-speed to other areas,” said English. “They told us then that they couldn’t talk about that until the project was complete; I imagine they will be able to provide us with some of that information (at the upcoming meetings).”