SUNDRE - The municipality has taken another step towards attempting to roll the ball forward in the hopes of getting a high-speed broadband internet service in Sundre.
During the Jan. 6 meeting, council carried, following an in-camera discussion, a motion by Coun. Todd Dalke directing administration to write a letter of support for a broadband grant application through the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
“We need to kick-start this,” said Mayor Terry Leslie last week during a phone interview.
Staff have been working on outlining options to try to attract an internet service provider to deploy broadband infrastructure in town, not just for residents and businesses, but also arguably most importantly for the medical community, said Leslie.
Alberta Health Services is also developing more technologically dependent avenues to enable patients to follow their own care, he said.
“If we don’t have that technological edge with broadband capacity, our residents and patients will be at a disadvantage. We need to have that fixed.”
The municipality had previously investigated the possibility of investing in publicly-owned infrastructure that would generate a new revenue stream. Following an extensive community consultation, the mayor said residents had expressed support to proceed.
However, the council of the day deferred a final decision as a municipal election was around the corner.
“This council made the decision that they didn’t have the appetite for the risk involved,” said Leslie, citing the primary concern as the major looming cost of the wastewater treatment facility's upgrades.
Since then, things have changed, and the municipality is now looking at different wastewater treatment solutions, he said, adding that within the coming year, officials hope to have a much better sense about available funds.
“That may give us the ability to look again at other broadband options,” he said.
Taking a page from the history books, the mayor said the only reason rural areas were connected to telephone lines was because of Alberta Government Telephones. The mayor said he would like to see a provincial broadband strategy that would include a role for municipal governments to play in the effort to deploy the infrastructure and possibly even generate revenue.
The CRTC website states, “Whether you’re at home, at work, or on the road, your phone should be able to connect using LTE, you should have an Internet connection with access to broadband speeds of at least 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload and access to unlimited data.”
According to the government website, 85.7 per cent of Canada meets the target of 50- 10 on broadband, while 40.8 per cent of rural communities have such a connection. However, mobile LTE service, which reaches 99.3 per cent in Canada, is at 96.5 per cent throughout rural communities.
“The intent is that council is very supportive of bringing broadband into the municipality,” said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, about council's direction.
“It’s a careful balancing act. They want broadband, but they don’t want it to be a huge impact to our ratepayers.”
