Rogers turns on five new cell towers along Highway 16 corridor

Five new cellular towers along the Highway of Tears will provide 9-1-1 access and 5G wireless coverage for customers.

Rogers announced today (Monday), the completion of the project, putting nine of the 11 towers now in-service.

“With nine towers in-service, we are proud to provide 166 kilometres of 5G cellular coverage on Highway 16, closing most of the wireless gap between Prince Rupert and Prince George,” said Mark Kennedy, Chief Technology Officer.

“We are honoured to work with Indigenous communities and government partners on this generational project to increase safety and improve connectivity in the region for residents and travellers.”

When the project is complete, Rogers will provide 252 kilometres of new cellular coverage along Highway 16, closing gaps to ensure continuous coverage along the entire 720-kilometre corridor.

“In 2006, the Highway of Tears Governing Body dreamed of having a communication network between Prince Rupert and Prince George, our vision was simply to build telephone booths along the corridor! We never envisioned that 18 years later, we would be celebrating the substantial completion of the project to provide cell coverage along Highway 16,” said Mary Teegee, a Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) activist.

The new towers are part of an ongoing rural wireless service expansion project with the province’s Connecting British Columbia program, administered by Northern Development Initiative Trust, and the federal Universal Broadband Fund.