Red Deer County’s $30-million broadband network is a “lifeline for economic development,” said chief administrative officer Curtis Herzberg on Wednesday.
Technology has become critical to business and Herzberg offered the recent example of a welding business in search of connectivity moving to the county from the Rocky Mountain House area.
“The nature of welding and fabrication shops that have relied so much on the technology they literally can’t do it there because they don’t have the kind of connnectivity they need,” he said at a news conference to celebrate the federal and provincial government’s recent $8-million investment to help extend broadband to nearly 1,200 more county households.
“People are making some pretty big decisions because of their need for some really high-end (connectivity).”
Herzberg predicted broadband will be transformative and allows rural businesses to compete globally on a level playing field, while improving everything from health care to education.
The county launched its broadband project four years ago and Delburne was the first community hooked up and 80 per cent of the population signed on. Gleniffer Lake and Spruce View areas followed and the number of residents joining the network continues to increase.
The funding will pay to complete the first phase of the project, which is to create a sustainable network that loops in communities throughout the county.
The second phase involves connecting households and businesses to broadband to steadily expand the system’s reach.
As part of the initiative, the county moved to create a municipally controlled corporation with Delburne and Paintearth County called Rural Connect Ltd. to operate and expand the infrastructure.
Partner EQUS REA Ltd., an Alberta-based member-owned electricity provider, is providing $2 million in start-up capital and VALO Networks, which specializes in operating next-generation fibre-optic and wireless networks will build and operate Connect’s system.
That is all part of the plan to create a network that will be self-sustaining, does not require further investment from other levels of government and can be expanded to other areas of the province.
The $8 million the county received was part of a $112-million investment from the Universal Broadband Fund to connect another 22,500 Alberta homes – many of them rural – announced by Alberta Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish and federal Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings last month.
Red Deer County’s funding will benefit households in 10 communities, said Glubish at Wednesday’s news conference at the VALO Networks office in an Piper Creek Business Park just south of the city.
When the Alberta Broadband Strategy was launched about two years ago, the goal was to provide just over 200,000 Alberta households with adequate, reliable high-speed Internet, either through direct fibre optic links or fixed wireless connections.
In some of the most remote parts of the province, low-orbit satellite technology may be the best option.
“The whole point is the right technology, for the right location, for the right price,” he said. “We’re focused on results, not just focused on spending dollars.”
Combining all government and private sector funding announced so far, about 110,000 – or 55 per cent – of the target will have access to high-speed Internet over the next year or so.
The strategy is a joint $780-million joint provincial-federal commitment and will involve both levels of government co-ordinating closely to ensure dollars are most efficiently spent.
VALO Networks CEO Phil Roberts said fibre optic lines will be linked to towers, which will deliver wireless high-speed Internet to homes.
The funding from Red Deer County and the federal and provincial governments pays for the infrastructure so service providers can offer packages competitive with those found in major urban centres.
While the recent announcement focuses on 1,200 mostly rural households, the broadband infrastructure is also available to those living in more densely populated areas of the county.
