LLOYDMINSTER, AB/SK — Lloydminster, the city which straddles the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, will receive $36 million in new fibre network infrastructure from Telus and SaskTel, the two companies announced today.
On the Alberta side of Lloydminster, Telus is investing $30 million to connect more than 90% of the city’s homes and businesses directly to its PureFibre network. Construction on the project is already underway and Telus says it anticipates the majority of households and businesses that will be covered by its PureFibre network to be connected by the end of 2021.
Telus’s gigabit-enabled PureFibre network is the largest 100% pure fibre-to-the premise (FTTP) network in western Canada, says Telus’s press release.
In a separate announcement from SaskTel, the Saskatchewan telecom provider announced it is investing $6 million to bring its infiNET service to residents and businesses on the Saskatchewan side of the border city. Construction will start this summer, and infiNET service powered by SaskTel’s fibre-optic network (delivering near gigabit speeds to customers) is expected to begin launching in select neighbourhoods in early 2022, says the release.
“Lloydminster (pop. 31,000, which is about 250 kms east of Edmonton and 270 kms northwest of Saskatoon) is known as a connection point between the two great provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, so it seems fitting that we are now the focus of a momentous collaboration between the city, SaskTel, and Telus that will bring fibre-optic broadband connectivity to our bi-provincial communities respectively,” said Gerald S. Aalbers, mayor of the city of Lloydminster, in SaskTel’s press release.
