Telus has announced it will offer its 4G LTE cellphone service in the Yellowknife market.

Chris Gerritsen, a spokesperson for Telus, said the company will offer "faster download and upload speeds especially in that internet experience."

Telus will offer 4G LTE cellphone service to customers in Yellowknife in the next few months. The company says that means faster uploads and downloads for internet-capable mobile devices such as iPhones. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

The Telus wireless service went live in the city on Feb.10, so visitors with existing Telus accounts have access to that service now. Gerritsen said Yellowknife residents will be able to sign up in the next few months.

The company plans to offer local cellphone packages, and people in Yellowknife will able to purchase local Telus cellphone numbers.

This comes as good news to Yellowknife cellphone users like Vincent Gosselin.

"It's great,” he said. “Why not, if it’s going to make iPhone service better? Right now they are crap without proper connections."

Noleen Byrne said she hopes competition will improve customer service.

"I have had problems with billing, like last month they billed me twice, so that was a bit of a pain. It would be nice if there was competition [so I could] say, 'OK, forget it.' "

Telus can't offer this new service alone. It has arranged a cost-sharing agreement with Bell to use its data infrastructure. The company wouldn't say if its packages will be cheaper than its competitor.

Yellowknife is one of 14 metropolitan regions where Telus is offering 4G LTE service, and so far the only city in the North.