Telus has started laying a 125-kilometre submarine fibre optic cable between Sept-Îles and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, part of a $20 million project designed to keep Quebec’s North Shore connected—even during severe weather.
The project, backed by up to $7.5 million in federal funding, will act as a lifeline for coastal communities from Baie-Comeau to Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon, creating a backup route if the main Highway 138 network goes down. The cable is expected to go live before the end of the year.
Specialized ships operated by IT International Telecom will spend up to two weeks burying the 3-centimetre-thick line about 1.5 metres beneath the seabed. The company says crews are using high-precision sensors, AI-assisted detection, and thermal imaging to avoid marine mammal disturbances—tech being used in Canada for the first time.
“This deployment marks the culmination of several years of careful planning and represents a major technological turning point for the North Shore,” said Nazim Benhadid, Chief Technology Officer of Telus, in a statement on Monday. “By anchoring this fibre optic infrastructure on the seabed, we are creating a robust communications path that will ensure essential service continuity, especially during extreme weather conditions. Beyond the technology, this project will guarantee citizens reliable access to essential services, education, and healthcare. Investing in the resilience of our networks means investing in the future and prosperity of our communities and our country.”
One has to ponder whether using satellite internet like SpaceX’s Starlink would be more cost effective and labour-intensive than laying an underwater cable.
Telus says the new link will deliver faster, more reliable connectivity and help protect essential services like health care and education for remote communities. The project is part of Telus’s broader $70 billion national investment plan to expand and modernize its networks through 2029.
The project was finally given the green light to proceed earlier this summer, after a four-year wait (first announced in 2020) due to approvals and consultations with Indigenous communities.
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