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By Aaron Schulze

Rural Internet Woes

MP Caputo asks Telus what’s needed to improve cellphone and internet service in rural areas

Jul 6, 2022 | 11:47 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Member of Parliament for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo is asking Telus Communications what obstructions are in the way to providing larger cellphone service and high-speed internet to rural areas.

In an open letter to Telus’ president Darren Entwistle, Frank Caputo says the mayors and councillors in Barriere, Clearwater and Clinton have spoken about the need for communication services. In an average summer, Caputo says 425,000 people drive through or stay in Clearwater while visiting Wells Gray Provincial Park nearby.

“Cell service ends 10 kilometers outside Clearwater so that means no service for the remaining 36-kilometre drive to Helmcken Falls, the park’s main attraction; for residents of the Clearwater Valley, only landline service and internet via expensive satellite providers,” Caputo writes. “This means these people and region are entirely cut off from calling for help if there is an emergency outside someone’s home.”

In Barriere and Clinton, Caputo says the lack of reliable and affordable high-speed internet is an obstacle to development.

“I was told during meetings in Barriere that once someone is just one kilometer outside the downtown, the internet is nearly non-functional. In the village of Clinton, workers who would have been able to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic were forced back into the office because of unreliable internet services. Telus itself has noted that this community is considered ‘underserved,’” Caputo says.

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Caputo believes the political will exists to address cellphone service and high-speed internet in the rural areas.