Brad Fisher means it when he tells you Markham is home. The telecom executive has worked across North America, taking him from his hometown of Markham to as far away as Honolulu, Hawai’i. But this city was always where he wanted to raise his family and grow his career—even if, as he jokes, it made his daughter a little upset.
“That's how much I love it here. My daughter still asks what happened to the beaches,” he says with a smile.
Today, you can find Fisher leading operations at telMAX, a telecommunications company providing internet, voice, and television services to residential and business customers in Newmarket, Stouffville, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Barrie, Brooklin, and now Markham.
At first glance, telMAX might seem like one of the alternative internet service providers (ISPs) that resell purchased bandwidth over existing cable infrastructure. Fisher is quick to point out that telMAX is doing something entirely different —something he calls a generational investment.
“All of the services you use—internet, tv, phone—are coming into your home through the same connection, which for most people is copper wire or coax cable. That’s a hundred-year-old technology. We’re upgrading to fibre optic lines which leverage the speed of light to move data,” Fisher says.
Rather than using legacy telecom infrastructure, telMAX has invested in building its own fibre optic network. Fisher says having its own network infrastructure lets telMAX control that customer experience and elevate it to the level it believes consumers and businesses deserve.
“The reseller model is to add their services to the last mile of the large operators’ network. Instead of that, we're building our own network. We're putting fibre optic glass into the ground, all the way to the home so we are not dependent on another company to reach and serve our customers,” Fisher says.
Building out a new fibre optic network is expensive, but Fisher says it will enable telMAX to deliver new services and upgrades that traditional phone and cable networks cannot match. The network’s speed has already earned telMAX accolades, including PC Magazine’s Fastest ISP award four years in a row.
“We're a digital infrastructure company first. Our goal is to build the infrastructure for the future in communities that have been left behind by the larger brands who haven’t invested the capital into upgrading their facilities,” he says.
telMAX broke ground for its Markham expansion this summer, and Mayor Frank Scarpitti was on hand at the city’s first customer in the Raymerville neighbourhood for a celebration.
“It was great to meet our first Markham customer and his family, thank them for their business, and welcome them to the fibre optic experience,” Fisher says. “Markham is especially exciting for us. It’s where our headquarters is located and it’s the high-tech capital of Canada. It’s important for us that the businesses and residents of Markham have access to state of the art, contemporary speeds at fair prices.”
The company’s expansion in Markham also gives Fisher the opportunity to host partners at some of his favourite spots.
“If you think about Main Street in Unionville and Markham, those are fantastic places. When we have business partners coming into town, we take them out to experience the ambiance of these beautiful parts of our community,” he says. “
As telMAX continues to bring next-generation connectivity to municipalities across the GTA, Fisher says he looks forward to more consumers learning that there is an alternative to legacy telecom giants.
“telMAX is a fantastic independent company here in Markham that is taking charge of its own destiny—and I’m so fortunate to be able to do this in a place where I grew up with my family and where I’m now raising my own family.”
