Construction of cell phone towers is well under way and residents should be able to chat on their portables from Thunder Bay to Rainy River by early next spring.
“We’ve added another site. Before there was one at Bears Pass, now we are building one at Nickel Lake and one at Mine Center,” said Kevin Burns, division manager of marketing and sales for Thunder Bay Mobility.
“We want to be able to offer coverage up Highway 502,” he explained.
Three of the seven towers are already under construction at Flanders, Quetico North and Shebandowan.
Construction of the other four towers at Huronia, Nickel Lake and Mine Center is expected to be underway this fall.
“We are anticipating to have all sites up by spring of 2001,” said Burns.
The cell phone service is currently offered east of Fort Frances to Rainy River, and there has been quite a demand for the phones as the number of subscriptions has gone well beyond expectations.
“Based on the network that’s there today, we have 2,500–that exceeds our five-year forecast,” said Burns.
The Town of Fort Frances is one of three partners funding the district’s cell phone system along with Atikokan and Thunder Bay Mobility. But the one million dollar share won’t be coming directly from the municipal budget.
“It’s the new power corporation board that has the items in their plates,” said Fort Frances CAO Bill Naturkach after the special meeting of the committee of the whole on Monday.
During the meeting, council agreed to put the funding responsibility in the hands of the newly formed Fort Frances Power Corporation rather than try to incorporate the costs in the municipal budget. The corporation can either use its existing assets or a debenture for the investment.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
