THE size of the cable really does matter, at least when you’re laying down fiber optics.

A flat new form of cable is allowing the City of Winnipeg to complete a 55-kilometre communications network in only three summers.

Teraspan, the company hired to connect city buildings and computers in southwest Winnipeg, has created a fiber-optic cable that’s only 12 millimeters thick, five centimeters deep and needs to be buried only five to eight centimeters below the ground.

That allows crews to lay cable across a busy street as Portage Avenue in less than 45 minutes, without causing serious damage to asphalt or concrete, said project manager Darryl Stotski.

“It works like a Zip Lock Bag,” said Stotski, referring to the process of digging a shallow trench, dropping in some cable and then re-sealing the concrete-or-asphalt suture.

“We can lay down an average of about a kilometer a day without ruining any infrastructure.”

The three-year, 55-kilometre fiber-optic network will connect city computers in about 50 buildings – including libraries pools and fire halls – in St. James, River Heights and adjacent neighbourhoods.

The project has a budget of just over $2 million, but would have cost about $6 million if the city went with conventional fiber-optic lines, Stotski claimed.

Outside of southwest Winnipeg, the city piggybacks on old Winnipeg Hydro communication lines or leases wires from MTS and Shaw Cable, said city connectivity manager James Jackson.

The new network belongs solely to the city. Over the next 10 years, Teraspan will be paid $700,000 to maintain the lines, which run parallel to Ellice and Portage Avenues, south across the Assiniboine Park footbridge and then along Corydon and Grant Avenues.

Security concerns prevent the city from revealing the precise location of the lines, because they also serve an emergency function.

In the event of a power outage, the network can allow city departments to remain in touch with each other, Jackson said.