Columbia Basin Trust to transition broadband assets to CityWest

CBT hands over rural reins

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Columbia Basin Trust is partnering with CityWest to transfer ownership and operations of its broadband network assets.

The region’s provider of rural high-speed internet is looking to get out of the business.

Columbia Basin Trust is partnering with CityWest to transfer ownership and operations of its broadband network assets, ensuring long-term management of the Basin’s fibre optic network by an experienced telecommunications provider.

The network will continue to operate on an open-access basis, supporting multiple internet service providers, said Johnny Strilaeff, CBT president and CEO, in a statement.

“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,” he said.

“With the targeted completion of the Connect the Basin project in 2027, that goal will largely be realized. As an experienced operator of networks in rural B.C., CityWest has the expertise and capacity to operate this much-expanded network and provide the services residents and communities need now and in the future.”

It is expected that the transition will be done in two stages, with CBT involved throughout this process to ensure a smooth transition for internet service providers and the households they serve:

• The Trust’s current broadband assets will transition to CityWest later this year; and
• Connect the Basin assets will transition once construction is complete in 2027.

CityWest is a provincially-scaled, municipally-owned telecommunications provider delivering fibre networks to communities across British Columbia through partnerships with municipalities, Indigenous Nations and regional organizations, said Strilaeff.

With more than 110 years of experience in telecommunications, CityWest owns and operates fibre networks in diverse and remote regions of the province, with a focus on underserved rural and Indigenous communities.

For more than 15 years, the Trust has funded and directly developed broadband infrastructure to help Basin residents access reliable and affordable high-speed internet.

What began with a small fibre network in the West Kootenay has since grown into a regional “fibre highway” across the Basin through Trust investments, government partnerships and collaboration with industry.

That work expanded significantly in 2023, when the Trust was approved for a multi-year, $82 million project extending fibre to 59 underserved communities and more than 5,400 rural households.

The Connect the Basin project was further expanded in fall 2025 to reach an additional 2,650 households and is scheduled for completion in spring 2027.

• Final close date is subject to consents and approvals customary for a transaction of this nature.