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DEH GAH GOT'IE/FORT PROVIDENCE - NorthwesTel has completed over half of a $4.3 million project to upgrade their facilities in the Deh Cho.

The company is laying a buried fibre optic cable between their Mills Lake microwave site near the junction of Highways 1 and 3 and their Poplar microwave site south of Fort Simpson on the Liard Highway.

NorthwesTel is laying almost 250 km of fibre optic cable along Highway 1 to increase their capacity. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The cable will provide the company with additional capacity to address the growth in cell phone and Internet usage, said Anne Kennedy, director of corporate communication for NorthwesTel.

"People are using telecommunications more and more," said Kennedy.

Cell phones and the Internet are the two service sectors that have grown most.

Kennedy said NorthwesTel is upgrading its facilities to ensure it has enough bandwidth to meet demands, and added the cable is part of overall upgrades to the network.

Fort Simpson and Norman Wells are the two communities that will benefit most from the fibre optic cable as it directs signals to where they need to go, she said.

The company is laying 242 km of cable at a cost of approximately $18,000 per kilometre.

On the Mills Lake side the cable will tie into an existing network of fibre optic cables. On the Poplar side it will tie into electronics that will link it to the digital microwave network.

In addition to providing more capacity, the cable will also provide a backup in the event that there's a problem with the microwave network, Kennedy said.

The project to lay the cable started on July 9 at Mills Lake and is expected to reach completion during this construction season. The cable is currently just past its halfway point.

Although most of the cable will be buried, some portions will be held above ground by poles.

"It depends on the kind of terrain they have to work with," said Kennedy.