Regardless of whether the municipality pursues a public or private option to deploy broadband Internet, providing the community with high-speed access to digital communications is crucial for Sundre's future growth and sustainability, council heard last week.
"Communities that do not invest in information communications technology will be left behind," Jon Allan, Sundre's economic development officer, told elected officials during the Nov. 27 meeting.
Administration began investigating potential options to deploy broadband infrastructure roughly two years ago when the local medical community came before the council of the day to advocate for fibre optics, he said.
"The reason that they tried to promote this initiative is because they require broadband to host video conferencing so that seniors ó or patients in general in our community ó don't necessarily have to drive all the way to Red Deer or Calgary to see a specialist."
The norm in communities with access to high-speed Internet is the ability to do specialized medical consultations without having to drive hours, he said, adding that was the main motivation behind the medical community's request.
Additionally, the municipality's economic development department also wants to foster and ensure a more accommodating atmosphere for businesses to be able to expand their reach and remain more competitive in the online marketplace, he said.
"The world is experiencing what would be considered a third major economic change in history, into the knowledge economy," he said, citing the first two major shifts as the agricultural and industrial revolutions.
Most households in Sundre get connection speeds of between five and 25 megabits per second, he said.
"In today's day and age, that's not very good. We are using just a glorified version of dial-up."
With the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission having last year declared broadband a basic service, the move towards making municipalities gigabit communities ó meaning access to modern, high-speed connections to the Internet ó is happening now, he said, adding failure to take action runs the risk of missing out on potential opportunities.
"Having good communications technology is fundamental to compete," he said, adding the infrastructure also provides additional incentive for younger people who are considering making Sundre home.
"We need to ensure we remain a desirable location."
The full potential of fibre optics ó which essentially utilizes thin strands of glass to transmit white light that carries information ó has only begun to be fully tapped into. But broadband offers off the bat access to maximum download and upload speeds, whereas other technologies such as 5G will only serve in the short term as capacities are reached and upgrades required, he said, adding available upload speeds are not very good and that line of sight issues can also cause problems.
According to data dating back decades, the demand for the ability to transfer larger amounts of data doubles roughly every two years, and "the need for information communications technology is a matter of being future-ready." Fibre optics, which offer symmetrical upload and download speeds, are the best means to accommodate that growth in demand, he said.
