SUNDRE – While some customers on the east side of town have been connected to Xplore’s new high-speed fibre optic network since this past summer, remaining residents and businesses on the larger west side will be waiting until this coming spring.
The company, formerly Xplornet Communications Inc., had previously announced the completion of the smaller first phase in a June 16 press release.
But the entire network, which received $1.8 million through the federal government’s Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), had been expected to go live in November.
“Although there have been unexpected challenges with this project, we are delighted to have started to connect customers in Sundre to Xplore’s fibre broadband service,” a spokesperson told the Albertan in response to emailed questions.
They did not elaborate on what the “unexpected challenges” were, but said crews were continuing the difficult task of connecting remaining homes and businesses as quickly as possible.
“We anticipate being able to make fibre broadband service available to additional customers each month and to complete the project in the spring of 2023,” the spokesperson said.
The project involves deploying the majority of the network’s cables through underground conduits, although a portion will be aerially mounted on power poles owned by FortisAlberta.
“We were approached to partner with the town on our existing infrastructure and have those poles host the line,” Peter Brodsky, a FortisAlberta spokesperson, told the Albertan during a phone interview.
“We’re a company that’s all about connecting communities – in our specific case with the power grid – so it stands to reason that those assets we used to do that could be used to connect a community to a broadband network,” he said. “We’re in full support of participating in this project.”
Although he could not comment as to why the project’s completion timeline was pushed back, Brodsky said poles must be able to support a project’s design and that other municipalities have also investigated that avenue as an option to deploy their own networks.
“With the funding available through the province and the federal government for universal broadband, we’re finding more frequent requests for our input and possibly our partnership on both wireless as well as situations like Sundre where it’s fibre optic cable,” he said.
“And if our facilities can support that, we can work in partnership with those organizations; we’re certainly open to having those conversations.”
Jim Hall, the municipality’s operations manager, said that from his department’s perspective, locating gas lines so the contractor can safely bore out underground conduits is a “pretty big undertaking” that can’t be rushed.
“They make sure they’re not hitting structures underneath, and that slows things down,” said Hall during a phone interview.
That’s largely as a result of Sundre’s soil – or lack thereof. Situated on a bed of gravel with little topsoil, conditions for drilling and excavating aren’t too bad during the summer months, but quickly become more challenging with the onset of the colder months, he said.
As for the power poles, some have had to be replaced along the way.
“I can verify that I’ve seen some poles change through the fall season; I’ve seen those pole replacements,” he said. “I don’t know how many.”
Also a homeowner in the northeast subdivision, Hall is among the many residents eager to connect to the 21st century.
“We are definitely looking forward to when it gets put in,” he said.
The company has previously said the project in Sundre will once completed connect more than 1,300 homes and businesses “to a next generation fibre-to-the-premise network.”
George Saliba, a spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, wrote by email in response to questions that eligible applicants must be able to either build, own and operate their own infrastructure, or alternatively enter into an agreement with a party that can, such as an internet service provider. Projects are only approved for places where speeds are below 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload.
For the UBF’s rapid response stream, the majority of projects were offering service this fall. However, some have taken a bit longer to complete as infrastructure project timelines can be impacted by a number of variables, including supply chain disruptions, labour availability as well as inclement weather conditions.
Once a project is finished, Saliba said, “Funding recipients are required to demonstrate accountability for use of UBF funds and must provide quarterly progress reports.”
Additionally, he said they must submit a final performance report detailing the project’s results, including the delivery of promised speeds.
“This ensures proponents are meeting their obligations.”
A federal government initiative called Canada’s Connectivity Strategy has the declared objective of providing all citizens with access to internet speeds of at least 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload.
The UBF is a $2.75-billion investment by the Canadian government designed to help connect 98 per cent of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100 per cent by 2030.
