Outside the service area - The coronavirus pandemic proved that reliable high-speed internet access is a need, not a want-and that too much of ...
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Outside the
service area
The coronavirus pandemic proved that
reliable high-speed internet access is a need,
not a want—and that too much of Atlantic
Canada is off the grid
By Carol Dobson
ATLANTICBUSINESSMAGAZINE.COM | 31
OUTSIDE THE SERVICE AREA
As schools, churches, funerals, meetings, working from
home, grocery and other shopping all morphed on-line
in early 2020, the inadequacies of broadband access in
this region were heightened.
Sarah Benetto O’Brien, owner of the PEI Handpie Company
on the Trans Canada Highway in Albany, Prince Edward Island,
says her spotty Bell internet service is hurting her business. “We’ve
had it go down several times and that has an impact on business,
especially during the last few months because nobody is carrying
cash,” she says. “We are trying to stay contactless but for the past
six and a half years, the service has been inconsistent. … If it’s wet
or windy or there’s a little bit of rain, or they’re working on the road,
the service goes down. And, this year with fewer tourists, we need
to be able to operate as much as possible in order to survive.”
As for Zoom or other video services, Bennetto O’Brien says that’s
not even worth the attempt. If she needs to video conference, she
has to leave work and drive home, a few kilometres away. While
her area’s elected provincial representative assured her there would
be a new repeater installed in a few months, she’s sceptical any
improvements will occur.
There’s been no shortage of “In February, we were pleased to
broadband promises. partner with Develop Nova Scotia to
On the Island, the government deliver high-speed internet to approx-
announced an initiative featuring imately 19,000 locations in 28 commu-
service from national telco, Bell Canada nities,” says Bell Aliant’s manager of
and Canadian rural internet provider, corporate affairs, Katie Hatfield. “In
Xplornet. Under the agreement, Bell September, with the second round of
Canada will provide improved internet Develop Nova Scotia funding, we’ll
service to 13 areas organized by phone be expanding high-speed internet to
exchange across P.E.I. while Xplornet approximately 32,000 more residences,
will provide fixed wireless and fibre businesses and other organizations in
to 20,000 civic addresses. According 100 communities across the province.”
to the agreement, over the next two “Wireless Home Internet, a new tech-
to three years, close to 30,000 house- nology specifically designed to bring
holds will see improved service levels broadband Internet access to rural
up to at least 50/10 Mbps (megabits per locations, is a good example,” she adds.
second). While they are still finalizing their
A similar initiative is ongoing in rollout schedule, she says they expect
Nova Scotia. The Crown corporation to cover at least 150,000 households
Covid shone a spotlight on Develop Nova Scotia (DNS) has been throughout all Atlantic Canada.
how important this is. It’s a tasked with extending coverage to “Covid shone a spotlight on how
100 per cent of the province. Monique important this is,” Arsenault says.
large infrastructure project Arsenault, DNS’s director of alignment “It’s a large infrastructure project and
and building the pieces will and community impact, says the process building the pieces will take some time.”
take some time. started in 2018. The Nova Scotia Not all communities in the province
Internet Funding Trust, a $193 million are following this model. In fact, Joe
Monique Arsenault
fund established by the provincial Hickey, CEO of Rock Networks, says
government, is investing $59 million Pictou County is the ‘poster child for
in the DNS projects, with leveraged another model’. His company (which
funds of $61 million from the public acquired long-time Nova Scotia commu-
and private sectors. Launched in early nications provider, Nova Communica-
2020, just prior to the pandemic shut- tions) is working with the County to roll
down, approximately 18,000 homes out a community broadband network.
and businesses now have networks in “It’s a different approach to solving the
place to offer new or improved high- problem,” Hickey says. “There are two
speed internet. Projects in this initial kinds of challenges—the first is the tech-
round are expected to be substantially nological challenge while the second is
complete by end of March 2021. the business challenge.”
32 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
The Nova Scotia Internet
Funding Trust, a $193
million fund established
by the provincial
government, is investing
$59 million in the DNS
projects, with leveraged
funds of $61 million
from the public and
private sectors.
Hickey’s solution is a partnership
between the municipal government
and local providers, basically bringing
broadband closer to home rather than
being controlled by companies head-
quartered out of the province.
Municipalities are already respon-
sible for installing infrastructure like
roads and ditches; Hickey advocates
extending that to the installation of
fibre optic cable. The municipality hires
companies to install the infrastructure,
amortizes it over a period of time, and
sells the service to local residents at
prices that are competitive to the larger
players.
“For example, if a customer pays the
municipality $100/month for broad-
band, that’s $1,200 per year,” he says. “If
you have 1,000 households, that’s $12
million, of which $1.2 million is a new
revenue stream for the municipality. It’s
not tax based, it stays in the community
where it also benefits it.”
COVID-19 has changed how
we work and the days of having to
be physically in an office are no longer
essential. People can, theoretically,
work from anywhere—that’s why reli-
able high-speed internet has become a
valuable marketing tool for community
economic development organizations.
ATLANTICBUSINESSMAGAZINE.COM | 33
OUTSIDE THE SERVICE AREA
The whole region is aging and the the big companies, the Shopifys, the
temptation to move to the bright banks, IBM, Microsoft and others and
lights of the big city means youth are encourage them to bring some people
not staying in their hometowns. But, here. These are high paying IT skilled
having access to all the tools they need jobs that don’t exist here. You can buy
technologically can be a way to keep or build a home here that’s larger than
them at home or, once the attraction of people can afford in these cities, so
the big city has worn off, facilitate their there’s an addition to the municipal tax
return. base and you’re adding to the commu-
The technology that people have used nity.”
to get through the lockdown has also Hickey is preaching to the choir in
emphasized the need for reliable, fast Pictou County.
service throughout the region. Brian Cullen, the County’s CAO, says
“A few years ago Facebook, Netflix, that about three years ago, they started
Spotify, Instagram, Messenger, Snap- identifying issues that councillors were
chat, Zoom didn’t exist,” Hickey says. hearing from their constituents—inade-
“Networks today weren’t designed for quate internet connectivity was high on
today’s uses let alone future require- the list. “We backed that up with speed
ments. That’s why we have to look at tests and most of the County was well
Networks today weren’t designed
more fibre, less wire. With fibre, the under 10 MBS, so that quantified the for today’s uses let alone future
pipeline will never be full, the band- issue. Then, we asked, what is the solu- requirements. That’s why we have
width is infinite.” tion and how do we get it?”
Hickey believes having this type Rock Networks was one of the compa-
to look at more fibre, less wire.
of broadband access will help attract nies that responded to the County’s With fibre, the pipeline will never be
people to the region, people who want request for proposals. “What set Rock full, the bandwidth is infinite.
to get away from the rat races and apart was that their solution was to
Joe Hickey
expensive property values of larger build the network but the municipality
metropolises. “They need to approach would own it so we could control our
own destiny,” he says. “We started down
the road by building our network and
then having service providers provide
the broadband to the end customer.”
Originally the plan was to provide
two-thirds wireless coverage and
one-third broadband but as the project
rolled out, that was reversed. Phase one
is underway with anticipated comple-
tion in 2021. One thousand residences
have been identified in this phase, from
a total population of 22 thousand. “This
is a 50-year asset for the County,” says
Cullen.
“I have a feeling that snow days will
be a thing of the past,” he says. “Now
people don’t have to worry about getting
to the office, they can work at home so
we don’t have the option of closing the
office.”
“One thing we have discovered is that
when real estate agents are inquiring
about a property in our County, the
first thing they ask about is about the
internet capacity,” he says. “It’s become
a selling point and if the answer is
non-existent, they aren’t interested in
buying that home.”
If anything has become particularly
evident over the past six months, it’s
that reliable broadband is a necessity,
not a luxury.
FEEDBACK
* dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.com
Chart submitted by Develop Nova Scotia a @AtlanticBus
34 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
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