The Village of Ste. Agathe has reached an agreement to bring fiber and wireless Internet to the community.

Ren de Moissac is Director of Ste. Agathe Community Development Incorporation. He says Internet service is very poor in their community. And, earlier this year when COVID-19 forced many of their residents to work from home, it became apparent that a more reliable, faster service was needed. He admits COVID-19 certainly fast-tracked this process.

The agreement is with Valley Fiber. A wireless tower, connected to fiber will be constructed in Ste. Agathe in order to service the households outside fiber limits. Fixed wireless services will be available through Valley Fiber's sister company VISP.

"You need to give full credit to the RM of Ritchot and the CDI for facilitating the capital needed to help fund the project," says de Moissac. "Councillor Curtis Claydon, Mayor Chris Ewen and the CAO Mitch Duval, they were a huge part."

"This agreement is the culmination of many months of working together with Ste. Agathe CDI and we at Valley Fiber are excited to become part of the community of Ste. Agathe," says Conley Kehler, Valley Fiber Senior Vice President. "Valley Fiber's build is not a shared service build, which is more usual in fiber connections, but rather a dedicated service to each home and business."

Now that the deal has been reached, de Moissac says they expect to see a backhoe any day now to begin the work. They have been told that customers should be hooked up in time for Christmas.

According to de Moissac, Valley Fiber will be going door-to-door to sign up interested households. He notes for those choosing a two-year contract with Valley Fiber, the hookup is free.

"We're pretty excited to have fiber coming into our community," shares de Moissac. "This is a project that we've been working on for a couple of years."

He says in order to sustain their community with businesses, they need viable Internet service in Ste. Agathe. With the CDI owning the industrial park in the community, de Moissac says it is important to have this service available to businesses wanting to set up in Ste. Agathe.