I think everybody would have liked to have had a public owned broadband Internet service in Sundre. But it is not as black and white as some people make it seem. Neither Telus nor Shaw was interested in installing broadband.
Telus said they would do it, if the town paid them. Obviously, broadband would not be providing big profits, or these companies would have jumped on the bandwagon. If a private company can’t make money at it, a government won’t be able to either.
Twenty years ago, nobody figured that rural land telephone lines would be a money loser, but Telus won’t install new line past its current boundaries. Thirty-four years ago, Saskatchewan installed the world's first fibre optic phone system. Fifteen years later, their hardware was obsolete; faster, cheaper fibre optics had become common, Saskatchewan was stuck with its old lines, and couldn’t afford to replace them. Ontario and Quebec are installing a 5G corridor, and Elon Musk is talking about a new satellite Internet system with 100 times the speed and volume as current satellite Internet. If either of these systems become commonplace, a cable/wire/line based system becomes obsolete the next day.
But, if Sundre had broadband to attract people who like living at the edge of the West Country in a green, vibrant small town, and work like they are in downtown Calgary, maybe Sundre would boom, and attract new businesses.
You can argue both sides, and have a 50-50 chance of being right; it is not clear-cut.
Council had to make a choice; it might not have been the one I wanted, but it is a valid choice.
Bob Wilson
Calgary
