THUNDER BAY – The city will be getting a little bit of an increase in their dividend payout from Tbaytel.
The telecommunications company on Friday announced in addition to the fixed $17 million dividend, the city will also receive $131,377 as a result of a special performance dividend based on 2014 budget results.
The city had last received special dividend funds from Tbaytel in 2012, when the amount was more than $3.2 million. The city had received $3.5 million the year prior.
“Last year was a good year for Tbaytel, a year of growth and a year of investment,” said Katie Crowe, Tbaytel coporate brand communications manager. “We did see the net result of that as part of that special dividend.”
In the past number of years the company has worked to improve service through infrastructure upgrades, first through the 4G HSPA network and then with the LTE data network that was launched earlier this week.
That addresses what has come to represent a major part of their business.
“We’ve seen exponential growth in our wireless sector,” she said. “We’re also very happy about the growth and progress of our digital TV service and looking at that as potential for growth in the future.”
The amount of the fixed dividend, which is set in two-year cycles, will be reviewed at the end of the year.
Since 2004, the city has received more than $208 million in Tbaytel dividend payments.
