Rogers Xfinity will deliver faster speeds and enhanced reliability to customers with under-sea fibre
Rogers is enhancing internet service to 3,000 homes and businesses on Pender, Mayne and Galiano Islands through an innovative $10 million investment using an under-sea fibre line to connect the Southern Gulf Islands to mainland British Columbia.
“We are committed to bringing the best communications and entertainment experiences to customers across the country,” said Bret Leech, President, Residential, Rogers. “Now residents on the Southern Gulf Islands can use Rogers Xfinity, Canada’s most reliable internet, to stream, make video calls and more.”
The company invested in the under-sea fibre line and infrastructure to bring faster speeds and enhanced reliability to these three communities. Now, customers can get 2 Gbps download speeds– a huge jump from previously available 25 Mbps download speeds.
“We continually invest in our networks to bring Canadians fast, reliable service,” said Mark Kennedy, Chief Technology Officer. “This was a unique build to connect these communities with a fibre line. Our team of 40 spent over 12,000 hours on the project, supported by five vessels.”
Located off Vancouver Island, the Southern Gulf Islands are not easily accessible to build network infrastructure. Many residents of these Gulf Islands can now work remotely and with reliable connectivity from their homes. This infrastructure also brings in resiliency to an area prone to weather conditions impacting hydro and service reliability.
This underwater build required specialized materials and work, sinking almost eight kilometres of submersible cable off a vessel which was then laid by divers along the ocean floor, without impacting the local environment. With cable links now permanently corded to the ocean floor, impacts to service from changing weather conditions is greatly reduced.
Over the last 20 years, Rogers has invested nearly $70 billion in our networks and continues to invest to deliver enhanced reliability and multi-gig speeds to almost eight million homes this year. These investments in network infrastructure combined with the introduction of Rogers Xfinity last year brings Canadians industry-leading internet technology on a world-class suite of products so they can game more, stream more and do more.