After more than 15 years, the Columbia Basin Trust is getting out of broadband.
In a news release Wednesday, the Trust announced it’s transferring ownership and operations of its broadband network assets to CityWest, a telecommunications company owned by the City of Prince Rupert.
The Trust said its network will continue to operate on an open-access basis, supporting multiple internet service providers.
“From the outset, the Trust’s goal was to put in place the infrastructure needed to bring service to as many Basin residents as possible who lacked reliable high-speed internet,” Trust president and CEO Johnny Strilaeff said in the release. “With the targeted completion of the Connect the Basin project in 2027, that goal will largely be realized.”
Strilaeff said CityWest has the expertise and capacity to operate the network and provide service to residents. CityWest has experience providing fibre networks to remote regions of the province, focusing on underserved rural and Indigenous communities.
The Trust said the transition will occur in two stages: existing broadband assets will transition to CityWest later this year, while Connect the Basin assets will transition once construction is complete in spring 2027.
In 2023, the Trust was approved for a multi-year, $82 million project extending fibre to 59 communities and more than 5,400 rural households. The Connect the Basin project was expanded in fall 2025 to reach another 2,650 households.
The Trust says the final close date with CityWest is subject to a series of consents and approvals and until those are complete, they can’t share the financial terms of the deal. However, they said the Trust will receive money through a revenue-sharing agreement based on the Connect the Basin project.
The Trust developed what was known as the Columbia Mountain Open Network in 2001 to provide broadband infrastructure in the West Kootenay. When the organization ran into financial problems, the Trust acquired CMON’s assets in 2011 and created the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation.
The Trust said once its broadband assets are transferred to CityWest, it doesn’t expect to have any further direct role in the broadband sector.
