By Jenn Watt

Nov. 8 2016

With their switching station completed and fibre cables being installed this week North Frontenac Telephone Company says its next steps include meeting with the Haliburton business community to assess their needs.

“We’re going to be reaching out to the business community to meet with them and get an understanding of what their needs are to start to develop some product offerings” says Grant Roughley VP of NFTC.

The service connections for the businesses in Haliburton Village should be up and running in early 2017.

“It’s an opportunity to find out from them what type of specific needs – Internet connectivity speeds – they would have.”

Over the past two months the company has been working on the switching station and finalizing designs for the village.

Following the review Roughley says the company will be widening its footprint for Phase 1 of the project to include some residential areas.

While the streets in town are not yet determined he says by the end of the year NFTC will be able to give specifics on location and timeline.

Fibre optic cable brings ultra high-speed Internet and digital cable TV. NFTC also provides telephone services. Roughley says he wants to find out from businesses what kinds of services would best serve their needs.

“We don’t want to dictate to them what their options are. We want to hear from them and try to accommodate them” he says adding that fibre is significantly faster and more reliable than DSL Internet.

For those interested in residential connection information will be forthcoming in advertisements later in the year and there will be a local sales representative available.

Editor’s note: North Frontenac Telephone Company is 50 per cent owned by London Publishing Corporation. London Publishing Corporation shares the same ownership as White Pine Media which in turn owns the Minden Times and Haliburton Echo.