Telus has signed a tentative 10-year contract worth $100 million a year to provide a range of telecommunications services to the B.C. government.
The contract will expand high-speed Internet connections in rural and remote areas of the province and expand cellular telephone coverage along highways.
The government says it put out tenders for nine services and decided Telus was the only company that could provide all nine at a much lower cost than if the services were tendered separately.
The contact will upgrade Internet connections at almost 450 schools by installing high-speed fibre optic cables, and provide new cellular coverage along more than 1,700 kilometres of rural and remote highways within five years.
This contract also provides long distance, conferencing, voice, data, cellular and other telecommunications services for various arms of the government, including regional health authorities, BC Hydro, WorkSafeBC, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. and the BC Lottery Corp.
The government says the contract will save the province $8.5 million in the first year alone.
