Rogers Communications has announced a planned investment of over CAD450 million (USD414 million) in the province of British Columbia (BC) over the next three years to expand its wireless network in over 70 communities in the northeast, Interior, Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island regions. As part of this investment, Rogers will also enhance existing LTE coverage with 700MHz spectrum, reaching more rural and urban customers and strengthening the LTE signal including deep coverage in buildings, elevators and basements. When complete, Rogers will have invested CAD2 billion in its network in BC.

Rogers has already rolled out 700MHz spectrum to communities in Vancouver, offering improved signal quality in basements, elevators and in buildings with thick concrete walls, and will continue to expand to other parts of the province. The operator aims to meet consumer demand for data by deploying LTE to over 98% of the province’s population. Rogers quoted statistics that over 64% of BC residents own a smartphone and use it on average 1.7 hours per day to check email (77%), search online (69%) and stream video (33%). It also noted that BC’s growing economy, which includes 385,900 small businesses, will benefit from the LTE network investment, while the northeast, ‘which continues to lead the province in the number of self-employed British Columbians’, was identified as a key region in the network expansion.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article