Rural Ottawa could be wired for broadband by end of summer
Fri, Mar 23, 2007 1:00 PM EST
All rural Ottawans could be hooked up to the high-speed information superhighway by as soon as August, city officials said this week.
The city's plan to deliver high-speed Internet access to its rural residents is one step closer after a broadband service provider was chosen to roll out the citywide public-private project.
"Every single home and business within the rural community of Ottawa will have access to high-speed internet if they want it, just like every business and home does within the suburban and urban areas of the city," said Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellett, chair of the agriculture and rural affairs committee.
Members of the city's rural affairs committee met on March 22 to approve a proposal from New Brunswick-based Barrett Xplore Inc. (BXI) to deploy a Motorola-based fixed wireless broadband platform designed to cover 100 per cent of the rural Ottawa market.
"This morning we're delighted, looking forward to and hope to show you over the coming months and years that we can not only meet but exceed your expectations," Bill Barrett, co-CEO of BXI, said to the committee.
The city received three proposals from BXI, Inukshuk Wireless Inc., and Storm Internet Services. Of them, BXI's was deemed the "best value" for money by staff and consultants who reviewed them.
About 60 per cent of the city's rural population has access to broadband now, leaving the rest of the rural expanse with only dial-up. Ottawa's rural regions have a low population density, which makes the cost of providing DSL or cable broadband services prohibitive because of the large capital infrastructure costs.
Though the city approved up to $1 million in expenditures related to the project, its one-time contribution to help offset BXI's $6 million capital expense will only be $750,000. BXI will also commit $4.7 million to drive sales, awareness and promotion, making its total investment $10.7 million over the next five years.
The city will make its contribution in several installments throughout the term of the contract: 10 per cent when the contract is signed; 70 per cent when the infrastructure is in place; another 10 per cent upon the passing of an independent performance audit after the roll out is complete; and two per cent on each anniversary of the contract and successful performance audits over the subsequent five years.
The real kicker for rural residents is that the project, initially not expected to be complete until late fall, might get rolled out ahead of schedule. Residents could be hooked up by August, said Chris Cope, a director at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation.
"We expect them to be complete, substantially at least, on or before August 31 ... This will occur on a stage-by-stage basis and we plan to work with community members as those individual nodes, or communities as we know them, become live. So some people may not have to wait for the final link to get service," he said.
Though it is widely anticipated to pass, the partnership is subject to council's approval. The matter will go before council on March 28.
By Justin Sadler
Special to the Ottawa Business Journal
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