Although still dim and distant, the light at the end of this seemingly endless digital dark age tunnel we remain trapped in could be getting brighter.
While nothing is yet firm, Sundre could begin to see the deployment of high-speed Internet infrastructure by 2020.
“I don’t want to over promise,” Jon Allan, the municipality’s economic development officer, told council last week during the Feb. 19 meeting.
“I keep using the word ‘potentially’ on purpose because of course nothing is for certain.”
But that being said, Allan also seemed enthusiastic about the distinct possibility that one of two companies that have apparently expressed a serious interest in investing in Sundre could start installing fibre optic broadband Internet infrastructure next year.
“They are hoping to have a detailed deployment plan completed, if possible, hopefully by the end of the year,” he said about CCI Wireless, an Alberta-based company owned by a rural co-op.
“If they are serious and this goes forward and everything all lines up, then we’re hoping for them to be able to deploy in early 2020.”
Olds-based O-NET is the other company that has also expressed a serious interest, and has been attempting to identify a financial model that would allow them to branch out into Sundre, he said.
For the immediate future, the business, medical and residential community will remain largely at the mercy of major telecom Telus, which seems to have little to no interest in making meaningful infrastructure upgrades in Sundre despite being a hugely profitable multi-billion-dollar conglomerate. But at least there is cause for optimism that the municipality will finally connect to the 21st century courtesy of two smaller relative upstarts.
“They understand the writing on the wall and that they need to move forward,” Allan said, adding, “it would allow them to generate a significant amount of revenue.”
Unfortunately, none of that revenue will be reinvested in the community since council decided last year to abandon a publicly-owned approach.
But having another option that actually creates competition for a superior service will be welcome.
The only reason I ever signed up with Telus after buying a house in the northeast — where abysmally obsolete speeds of five megabits per second is the only service available — was for lack of any other option. The choice was to pay an outrageous monthly fee for Internet speeds that barely compare to what was available in the early 2000s, or to have no connection to the Internet whatsoever.
The latter simply isn’t an option in this day and age.
So, although still not a given, I’m already eagerly looking forward to the day I can ditch Telus like a bad habit and then promptly call up the new provider — whether CCI, O-NET or any others that might step up to the plate — to sign up for modern, consistent and reliable service.
