Telus reports progress made on fibre-optic infrastructure rollout

Bettis explained that there have been challenges with the uprising of data centres across the world and the capacity of fibre-optic cable, which he said is unusual.

He explained they’re on track to finish building the fibre-optic infrastructure in Red Deer by the end of 2029. By the end of this year, they plan to have 15,000 homes connected.

“One of the great things about Red Deer is that it keeps growing, so we’re building not only to the premises that have been here, but we’ve connected 95 per cent of the premises in the community, both homes and businesses,” Bettis said, adding they’re also deploying infrastructure for future builds in the community.

He said they’re also making great progress in Sylvan Lake.

“We’ve been building in Alberta for 15 years now. Our build seasons are pretty short because of the ground freezing. We can build from April until the first real freeze, so we are getting to the end of it. What that means is a lot more homes are starting to come online now,” he said.

Brian Bettis, Vice President of Customer and Community Growth at Telus provides a cheque to Executive director of the Red Deer Food Bank, Mitch Thomson during a community barbecue on Friday. (Image Credit: rdnewsNOW/Ian Gustafson)

Telus representatives were in Red Deer on Friday to celebrate the progress made so far in the city. This included a $2,500 cheque donation to the Red Deer Food Bank.

Executive director of the Red Deer Food Bank, Mitch Thomson, said this donation will be a big help.

“When you look at a donation like this, it’s really food on people’s tables,” Thomson said. “This donation will give 500 households milk for the month,” he said. “When companies like Telus host a local event and make a contribution to a local charity like ours, not only does it add excitement to the community, but they’re actually feeding the people in the community.”

When asked how the food bank is doing this time of the year, Thomson said it’s holding its own. Across the province, September and October can be hard times for food banks.

Thomson said a lot of the giving doesn’t come until Christmas time.

“By the time summer’s done and parents get kids back to school, people really have a need,” he said. “We are nervous. We recognize what’s happening with tariffs and other things around the world and we know that employment is doing some weird things these days. We are cautious, but we’re also optimistic about the community and what it does when it shows up.”

by Ian Gustafson

Telus reports progress made on fibre-optic infrastructure rollout

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