Ukee Cable customers are now Telus customers.
The longstanding local company, founded by John and Dorothy Ludlow in 1967, was officially sold to Telus on Nov. 1.
Ukee Cable announced the sale through a recent media release and thanked locals for their support over the years.
“The family members of Ukee Cable are grateful to present and past customers for trusting in them as their Internet and TV provider and for their loyalty over the years,” the release states.
“Moving forward, the Ukee Cable team is confident that their tradition of expertise and building good customer relations will continue and that the evolving needs of the community will be met over the coming years. “
In an email to the Westerly News, Telus spokesperson Richard Gilhooley said his company is excited about the acquisition.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with Ukee Cable and the Ludlow family, and we recognized an opportunity to learn from them and draw on the combined strengths of our teams in order to deliver a great experience for all our customers,” he said.
He noted Telus is investing roughly $5 million to bring fibre optic cable to the West Coast.
“We have a real stake in these communities. We anticipate we’ll connect most homes and businesses in the communities to our fibre network before the end of 2017, which will provide access to some of the most advanced communications infrastructure available in the world today,” he said.
“Importantly, this investment will also connect healthcare providers, educators, and businesses and allow us to offer much better wireless service. This investment will open up tremendous opportunities for access to healthcare and education, and for local businesses.”
He assured current Ukee Cable customers will not see a disruption in service.
“It’ll be business as usual during the transition, and we have no plans to change prices,” he said.
“Going forward, customers will have the opportunity to upgrade to TELUS’ PureFibre services if they wish to do so. We will work with existing staff to ensure that customers have the support they need as we continue to develop transition plans in partnership with Ukee.”
Gilhooley declined to disclose how much Telus paid to acquire Ukee Cable.