Northwestel Upgrades Internet in Fort Simpson, Hosts Customer Appreciation Dinner

Press Release

November 6, 2014

New DSL Internet service offers the fastest speeds in community to date

Northwestel is pleased to announce an upgrade to Internet service in Fort Simpson.

Today, the company announced the launch of 15 Mbps Internet service, bringing the fastest Internet speeds ever available to the community. This new upgrade demonstrates Northwestel’s commitment to bringing next generation services to northern Canada under its Modernization Plan.

Residential and business customers in Fort Simpson can now browse, download and stream at speeds up to 15 Mbps – three times faster than previously available. With these increased download speeds and up to 1 Mbps upload speeds, customers will have access to high performance streaming, rapid file downloads and seamless uploads.

The new service offers monthly usage allotments to 200 gigabytes (GB) for residential customers. With a 200 GB residential cap, customers can send and receive 13,000 e-mails, upload 2,700 pictures, or watch more than 65 standard definition movies in a single month.

“We are thrilled with the progress we’ve made with the Modernization Plan this year,” said Northwestel Vice President of Consumer Markets Curtis Shaw. “To date, this year, we’ve launched 4G services in nine additional communities in partnership with Bell Mobility and this is now the fourth community where we have upgraded Internet with further upgrades planned before the end of the year.”

In January 2013, Northwestel announced a Modernization Plan that will deliver the latest advances in communications services across Canada’s North. In the first year of the plan, the company invested nearly $44 million to launch 4G wireless service in 20 communities, upgrade Internet in four communities and install new network switches in an additional four communities.

To celebrate the launch of the new Internet service, Northwestel will host a free customer appreciation dinner at the Fort Simpson Recreation Centre. The dinner will be held on November 13 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM MT and will be catered by local chef, Doris Martineau. Stew and chili will be served throughout the evening and will be accompanied by speeches from local officials. A door prize winner will be drawn at 6:30 PM MT.

About Northwestel:

Northwestel Inc. services the largest operating area of any telecommunications company in the western hemisphere over the most remote and rugged terrain in Canada. It provides a complete range of voice, video and data solutions to residential and business customers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, northern British Columbia and High Level, Alberta.

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