No more outages: Telus finishes 125km underwater backup cable in Quebec

Telus has completed a new underwater fibre optic cable in the St. Lawrence River, adding a backup connection for communities on Quebec’s North Shore.

The nearly 125-kilometre submarine cable runs between Sept-Îles and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. It was installed and buried on the riverbed in November and December 2025 and is designed to provide redundancy for areas east of Baie-Comeau if the main land-based network goes down.

The project cost more than $20 million and was jointly funded by Telus and the federal government (which contributed $7.5 million).

With internet alternatives available today, some may wonder whether satellite internet services like SpaceX’s Starlink would be a cheaper and less labour-intensive alternative to laying an underwater cable.

“This infrastructure will ensure that citizens, businesses and institutions in the region receive reliable access to essential services,” said Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of Telus, in a statement on Thursday.

The new cable acts as a backup route for telecom services if there is a failure along Route 138, which currently carries the main fibre connection between Baie-Comeau and Sept-Îles.

Telus says the submarine cable offers high capacity, low latency, and long-term durability.

Telus also said environmental protections were built into the project. During installation, crews used a system combining thermal imaging, artificial intelligence, and human monitoring to reduce risks to marine mammals. Shoreline restoration work is planned for spring and summer 2026.

The project was approved to move ahead last summer, ending a four-year delay after it was first announced in 2020, as the process moved through regulatory approvals and consultations with Indigenous communities.