Whereas there was a resolution passed at UBCM in 2004 to cover the Highway 16 corridor with cell phone service, when 59 of Canadians had cell phones; and And whereas 14 years later, while 86 of Canadians have cell phones, Port Clements and other rural areas along Highway 16 still suffer from the impacts of having no cell phone service, emphasized for Port Clements residents by the stress and demands of the January 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami evacuation: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the provincial government to ensure that the increasingly essential infrastructure of cell phone coverage is made available to highway corridors in rural BC as soon as possible and without any further delay.
Ministry of Citizens Services The Provincial Government agrees cellular service along highway corridors is an important service affecting public safety, community development and access to services. Telecommunication companies are nationally regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission CRTC; there are no regulations requiring cellular service in any region of Canada. The CRTC is currently examining a new federal funding model for internet and cellular services which may include new supports for expanding cellular services in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. The Province works with service providers and other levels of government to expand connectivity which can provide the foundation needed for cellular network companies to supply cellular coverage to communities with a fibre connection point. Government regularly reaches out to cellular service providers to convey the need to expand cell service in every part of B.C. However, we hear that its often not economically viable for cellular network companies to increase coverage in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. The Provincial Government is working with other levels of government and the private sector to bring free public Wi-Fi to several highway rest areas in B.C.