THUNDER BAY -- Tbaytel customers increased their bandwidth use by more than 170 per cent last year.
With usage expected to grow again this year, the company has no choice but to raise its prices to help cover the cost to expand the system.
Starting Aug. 1 monthly Internet bills will be hiked $3. Landline customers can also expect a hit on their pocketbook with a $2 monthly increase. Together the increases represent about $60 more per customer annually.
It couldn’t be avoided, said a Tbaytel spokeswoman.
“We knew when we were in our planning process last year that we were going to be have to look at the kind of investments we have to make in order to maintain those kind of speeds and maintain that level of bandwidth,” said Katie Crowe, adding unlike many other providers, the publicly owned utility has no plans now or in the future to cap bandwidth usage under its unlimited plan.
Crowe estimated the company will spend four to five years upgrading its fibre-optic infrastructure, the only way it will be able to continue to provide the same level of service.
“As well, we’re increasing our public wi-fi presence, which also requires a substantial investment, not only putting up all those wi-fi areas throughout Thunder Bay, but we’re also expanding out into the region.”
Crowe said the company still believes its prices are still in line with other service providers in the area and across Canada.
“We also look at those kinds of trends and make sure we’re pricing fairly.”
She cited the need to maintain and upgrade the system as the main reason behind the landline increase as well.
While Crowe admitted the trend across the country is cord-cutting – cancelling of traditional phone services – the drop-off in Thunder Bay is much less steep.
“The numbers in Thunder Bay actually don’t reflect the same numbers as across the country,” Crowe said. “We’re seeing there has not been a significant decline in the use of home phone. But we also know that’s the infrastructure that’s the backbone of our network. So whether you’re offering landline or not, it’s the kind of network you need to maintain and need to continue to invest in, in order to be able to grow all of your other services as well.”
