Tbaytel's Newsroom

Thunder Bay, Ontario (March 3, 2023)  - The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre (NOIC) and Tbaytel are proud to announce approval for a generational project that will provide access to state-of-the-art Tbaytel fibre service for thousands of rural residents in the Thunder Bay area.

More than $35.7 million in combined federal and provincial funding was recently approved for the Lakehead Regional Municipal Coalition Fibre Project to bring Tbaytel fibre to 2,565 households in the Township of Conmee, Township of Gillies, Township of O’Connor, Municipality of Neebing, Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge and the Municipality of Shuniah.

“This funding announcement is the culmination of almost 7 years of active work with our project partner Tbaytel, spent consulting with municipalities and government stakeholders, trying to find a way to make the numbers work,” said Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre’s Jeff Coull.

 “It’s imperative that we find ways to expand connectivity in our communities to provide fast, reliable internet service and the business case simply isn’t there without the generous funding programs provided by our federal and provincial governments. The investment from Tbaytel is significant and I look forward to partnering with them as the regional leader in telecommunications. I couldn’t be happier for these six communities, their residents and businesses, and the people of Thunder Bay. This is a generational opportunity.” 

As the region’s Information and Communications Technology champion, the NOIC continues to find solutions to the private sector business-case for fibre internet in Northern Ontario, delivering over $37 million in broadband infrastructure in the region over the last decade. NOIC is excited to ramp up those efforts with this new project. Over the next 4 years, NOIC forecasts deploying over $44million of fibre infrastructure in the region. NOICs strategic partnerships between non-profit, private and public sector stakeholders allows NOIC to build infrastructure that not only hits the 50 Mbps download /10 Mbps upload bandwidth guidelines, but far exceed them, building future-ready infrastructure while providing service at a price that’s similar to urban markets.

Tbaytel is the selected vendor and will make an additional multi-million-dollar capital investment for the design, build and implementation of the project, which will see the installation of 768 kilometres of fibre over an area of 860 square kilometres and give residents in these areas access to Tbaytel’s complete suite of fibre products and services- including internet, TV, phone and security – all from a single provider at competitively priced rates.

“This is a significant opportunity to advance connectivity for the entire region. With access to Tbaytel fibre, the possibilities for these communities around Thunder Bay will be almost as limitless as the bandwidth it brings,” said Tbaytel President and CEO Dan Topatigh.

“Tbaytel is proud to expand in Conmee, Gillies, O’Connor, Neebing, Oliver Paipoonge and Shuniah and add to the growing list of communities and areas we serve with state-of-the-art fibre technology. We look forward to delivering it to their door as soon as possible.”

Fibre optic technology services customers with virtually unlimited bandwidth through a direct connection to their home or business. In addition to the benefits that can be felt across multiple sectors ranging from education, health care, social services and information technology, access to fibre technology can also mean an exceptional telecommunications and entertainment experience for customers in their homes.

We are excited to share that work on the project has already begun in the second quarter of 2022 and is expected to be complete by December of 2025. For more information and a map of the project, visit tbaytel.net/fibreexpansion.

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