The notorious dead zone for cellphones between Sooke and Port Renfrew is expected to come alive by the end of the year — 14 months later than originally promised.
Rogers Communications said it started construction this month on four cell towers that will provide continuous coverage over the 70-kilometre span along Highway 14.
Two other towers within Port Renfrew are also underway, while a seventh structure, just west of Sooke, was completed in early June.
“It can’t come soon enough,” said Karl Ablack, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce. “There are a lot of people anxiously waiting to have that connection.”
The provincial government announced in April 2021 that the infrastructure for cellular service would be in place by October 2021 to provide the wireless service so desperately needed by residents, search-and-rescue operators and the thousands who use the trails and beaches along Juan de Fuca Marine Trail.
Mike Hicks, who represents the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area for the Capital Regional District, said zoning for all seven tower sites was approved early last year, but the project has seen frustrating delays.
Rogers has cited labour shortages and supply-chain issues with steel and telecom components, as well as the challenges of rugged terrain.
Rogers said it had to change construction schedules to follow federal environmental requirements for wildlife, particularly to avoid disturbing birds during nesting seasons.
All seven towers are to be completed by the end of the year and provide 5G coverage along Highway 14 from Otter Point to Port Renfrew.
Gord Horth, general manager of the CREST system that provides emergency equipment and services to first responders in the capital region, said the new tower structures will provide a “vital link” to an increasingly busy corridor west of Sooke.
The area includes Jordan River and Shirley as well as access points to beaches on the Juan de Fuca Trail.
People who are injured or lost or run into vehicle trouble often rely on bouncing cell signals off U.S. towers to get help — if they are close to a beach. Or they simply wait until they can find someone who can drive into Sooke.
Horth said CREST will “piggyback” its transmitters and power systems at five of Rogers’ seven planned towers.
That will give first responders such as paramedics, police and fire departments increased channel capacity, allowing agencies to communicate with each other in emergencies.
“This will be a light-years transition for first responders,” said Horth. “It’s a huge win because that corridor will only get busier over time.”
B.C. Transit and the B.C. Conservation Officers Service also use the CREST system.
Horth said dealing with access to the tower sites has been an issue for Rogers, as the properties are leased from private, forestry and First Nations land owners. “I think their biggest challenge is getting all those leases and agreements in place with multiple owners … that has taken a considerable amount of time.”
Outfitting the five towers will cost CREST about $250,000 at each site, said Horth, and include power, backup generators and secure shelters to house transmitter equipment.
Horth said CREST relies on Rogers’ engineering and modelling of the towers — ranging from 40 metres to 60 metres high — all along the route from Sooke to Port Renfrew. The “daisy-chaining” of the structures ensures connections all down the line, he said.
The sites are backed with emergency generators because the system is remote. Unlike urban cellular systems, which can leapfrog to other towers in event of failures, remote systems don’t have backups.
Vickie Weber, senior manager of Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue, said the group relies on cellular service for voice and data communications in responding to those with life-threatening emergencies.
Cellular service will be “an absolute game-changer” for businesses and residents, said Logan Emery, supervisor of guest services for Wild Renfrew, which operates the Port Renfrew Pub, Seaside Cottages and the West Coast Trail Lodge.
Emery said even though guests are informed at the time of booking rooms that there is no cell service, some still complain about it after they arrive.
Key-pad locks to rooms have to be changed manually after checkouts and communication with staff at multiple locations over a wide area — from maintenance to housekeeping — is difficult and often time-consuming without cell service, he said.
Emery said three weeks ago, his mother was visiting from Ottawa when a text arrived via a cell tower in Washington state saying that her mother had suffered a serious stroke. “If we hadn’t been on the beach, we wouldn’t have got that text,” said Emery.
The chamber’s Ablack, who is building Port Renfrew’s first full-time residential housing subdivision since the early 1970s, when the community boomed with fishing and logging, said the community is growing quickly.
He said the promise of cell service and the federal government’s plan to bring high-speed internet via sub-sea fibre-optic cable has fuelled interest. The internet cables, which started being laid in Haida Gwaii, are expected to connect Port Renfrew in the first half of next year.
Ablack, a partner in Port Renfrew Management, has developed 13 quarter-acre lots in the Beachview Rise subdivision within the village. Eleven have been sold in the initial phase, and five are planned in another phase.
The company partnered with Pacific Gateway Marina to double the size of the village’s water reservoir, a project completed last year.
Ablack said the introduction of high-speed internet and cell service will “change the face of Port Renfrew,” making the community more attractive to full-time residents.
“COVID has changed the way a lot of people work … it’s meant that some people can do their jobs remotely and from where they want,” said Ablack. “Port Renfrew offers that when cell service and high-speed internet are in place.”
Funding for the cell project is from the province’s Stronger B.C. Economic Recovery Plan, which included a one-time $90-million grant to the Connecting British Columbia program to expand high-speed internet and cellular access in rural and Indigenous communities.
Rogers Communications was selected to receive up to $4.9 million to build the cell-tower infrastructure.
Ottawa laid out plans in early 2018 for the Connected Coast project, which includes 3.5 million metres of sub-sea cable laid along the coast for high-speed internet connections for 175,000 households. Delayed by the pandemic, the $45.4-million project is underway.
The village of Port Renfrew has a population of 262 full-time residents, according to the 2021 census, an 82% increase from 2016. In the summer months, that population can triple with vacationers.
The latest census data indicated the Pacheedaht First Nation at Port Renfrew has a population of 85.
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