Tbaytel, formerly the Thunder Bay Telephone Company, is a municipally-owned telecommunications company operating in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and the surrounding area. Tbaytel's services include data, voice, wireless, internet, digital TV and security.
Formerly | Thunder Bay Telephone Company |
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Company type | Municipally owned corporation |
Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | 1902Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada | in
Headquarters | Thunder Bay, Ontario , Canada |
Area served | Northern Ontario |
Key people | Dan Topatigh, President & CEO |
Owner | City of Thunder Bay |
Number of employees | 420[1] |
Website | www |
Tbaytel claims to have Northern Ontario's largest 4G Network within a 300,000 km2 area providing coverage along major highway corridors from just west of Sault Ste. Marie to the Manitoba border and north to Red Lake and Geraldton to the US border.[2] Tbaytel operates HSPA+ and LTE networks.
Presently, Tbaytel is the largest independently owned telecommunications provider in Canada. Tbaytel is wholly owned by the Corporation of the City of Thunder Bay. Tbaytel has paid dividends every year since the late 1990s to The City of Thunder Bay, with an annual dividend of approximately $3 million. Today this annual fixed dividend has increased to $17 million. As of 2017, total dividends paid by Tbaytel to the City of Thunder Bay exceed $200 million.
The company was established in 1902, when Thunder Bay Telephone was formed to connect the then-independent communities of Port Arthur and Fort William.[1] When Port Arthur and Fort William amalgamated to form The City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay Telephone became a city department. In 2004, Thunder Bay Telephone was renamed to Tbaytel. Tbaytel also appointed its first Municipal Services Board in 2004, allowing it to be operated independently, but it remained 100% owned and operated by the City of Thunder Bay.
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