MTS President & Thompson Mayor celebrate launch of fibre optic network & Ultimate TV service in Thompson

To celebrate this major milestone, a recent MTS Ultimate TV subscriber from Thompson was selected to represent the 100,000th customer and won one year of free MTS TV service.  Thompson resident Shirley Lafreniere signed up for MTS Ultimate TV in March shortly after MTS TV service was made available in the community.

"It's a wonderful surprise," said Ms. Lafreniere, when asked how she felt about winning.  "I've been enjoying MTS Ultimate TV since the service was made available here in Thompson. It's great to have another service provider to choose from and the quality and features of MTS's Ultimate TV service are fantastic. One year of free service is going to make my TV viewing even better!"

As part of the day's festivities, another Thompson resident won a 40 inch LED HD Samsung TV.

MTS's award-winning Ultimate TV service provides Manitobans with one of the most feature-rich television services in Canada, delivering over 100 HD channels and the Whole Home PVR service that can record and playback TV programs on any connected TV in the home as well as many other innovative features.

"We are thrilled to offer our high definition MTS Ultimate TV service in Thompson, one of the growing number of communities in Manitoba where MTS is deploying fibre-to-the-home technology," said MTS President Kelvin Shepherd.  "The FiON Network is one of the most advanced fibre optic network technologies in Canada and Thompson residents can now enjoy these exciting new services."

FiON supplies a huge amount of bandwidth directly into MTS customers' homes, providing excellent support for current telephone and high-speed Internet services, while laying the groundwork for delivering new services, such as MTS Ultimate TV.  Thompson Mayor Tim Johnston also attended today's celebratory event.

"We are pleased to see a major company like MTS commit to an investment of this magnitude here in Thompson," said Mayor Johnston.  "The deployment of fibre optic technology is well timed and will help pave the way to additional new development.  The entertainment services that the network enables will certainly appeal to the number of growing young families who live here - that's a great benefit."

MTS is investing $125 million over five years to deploy its fibre-to-the-home network to more than 120,000 homes and enable MTS Ultimate TV service in more than 20 communities in Manitoba. Approximately 1,627 homes in Thompson are currently eligible for fibre connection and MTS's Ultimate TV Service.