Residents of Bowser in the Regional District of Nanaimo and Union Bay in the Comox Valley Regional District are making fewer long distance calls lately, thanks to a new local calling area established by Telus and the two regional districts.
Prior to this month, residents living on the border of the two Regional Districts were charged long distance rates to place calls between the communities.
The new local calling area took effect on March 8.
“Connecting these two communities was especially important because of the social aspect of things,” said RDN Electoral Area H Director Dave Bartram.
“Geographically, this local calling area makes good sense. Now that TELUS has enabled us to establish this service, all of the residents in this vicinity can go about their daily business without having to call long distance. They can call the stores in the commercial village centre of Bowser, they can call the Legion—and they can call each other as well.”
In accordance with the process set out by the federal CRTC for expanding local calling areas, residential customers in the area will pay TELUS a surcharge of $3 per year for the first three years of the service. After three years, the surcharge will cease to apply.
— Regional District of Nanaimo