Improvements to wireless reception at MUHC Glen site could take a year
Telus, Quebec will cover cost of fixing cellphone reception issues at new Montreal hospital
Patients and staff at the McGill University Health Centre's Glen site might have to wait up to one year for improved wireless reception at the hospital.
On Monday, the hospital announced details of an arrangement with Telus that will see the telecommunications company cover the cost of installing a new wireless antenna system throughout the sprawling 2.4 million square-foot health care facility.
Since opening last year, the hospital has been plagued with spotty cellphone reception and in November 2015 announced that it would have to spend millions to fix the problem.
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Telus to the rescue
The MUHC said it had an agreement with Telus at the time, but hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth McPhedran said Tuesday that it took time to hammer out the details.
"We were waiting for everything to be signed, sealed and delivered before we made the announcement," she said.
Under the agreement, Telus will install around 700 small wireless antennas throughout the Glen site and cover annual operations and maintenance fees.
Telus spokeswoman Luiza Staniec would not disclose the cost of the project to the company but said "it's in the millions."
McPhedran said the project would take nine months to complete, but Staniec said Telus estimates the project will take up to a year.
Tender delay
In its announcement this week, the MUHC said the cost of installing 30 kilometres of cabling throughout the hospital will be financed by the Quebec government.
Last November, the MUHC had said the call for tenders for the cabling work would go out "within weeks."
It now says that call has just been issued.
McPhedran said MUHC had to wait for the sponsorship agreement with Telus and the funding arrangement with the government to be finalized before the call for tenders could go out.
"A bit of a delay there, but we're really excited that we're able to go forward with this project," she said.
Despite the various delays, McPhedran called the project a "win-win opportunity for the MUHC" given the fact it won't cost the hospital a thing.
"We're incurring no costs whatsoever, and we'll be able to provide better cellphone reception at the hospital," she said.
The kind of wireless network that Telus is installing was included in the original plans for the new hospital.
McPhedran said it was never built because the actual cost of the system turned out to be much higher than original estimates.
As a result, the MUHC decided to instead "explore alternative solutions, which is what allowed us to ultimately enter this partnership with Telus," she said.