Alberta edges ahead in broadband race

Not to be outdone by the federal Liberals in Ottawa, the Alberta Conservatives last week announced plans to roll out high-speed Internet access to virtually every community in Alberta (see story on page 1). Alberta is hoping the initiative – called Supernet – will create a critical mass for broadband service delivery, and attract large corporations like Microsoft and Cisco to spin off operations in the western province. Alberta’s minister of innovation and science, Lorne Taylor, outlined his province’s ICT strategy in a speech to delegates at the Smart2000 conference in Calgary on Oct. 25, one week prior to theSupernet announcement. Below is an edited excerpt from his presentation. When it comes to technology, it is vital to have a leading edge infrastructure that can support any economy and province in the 21st century. The Internet is for the 21st century what the telephone was to the 20th century – in fact, even telephone service is evolving to be delivered through the Internet. The Internet is no longer a luxury. The next generation will be ill- prepared if they are not experienced Internet users. In a society that increasingly relies on computers and the Internet to deliver information, we need to make sure all Albertans have access to high quality service at an affordable rate. High-speed and high-bandwidth Internet access at an affordable rate is therefore vital for all Albertans to succeed in the 21st century. Up until now, access to the Internet for many Albertans has meant dialing in through their phone line, waiting to connect, and often delays in getting a connection – waiting in front of the computer screen for a web site to load, for a message to be sent, or worse yet, tying up their computer and phone line for 20 minutes or more in trying to download a file or piece of information – in some cases, only to lose the connection sometime in the process. The Government of Alberta has already announced its intention to build a high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet network to every community that has a school, a hospital, a library and/or municipal office by 2003. Within the next few weeks, I will be announcing the details on how we will do that, and what that means for all communities and all Albertans. We are in a high-speed economy, and a high-speed, high-broadband network will open enormous opportunities for all Albertans and improve our quality of life. Access to high-speed broadband will provide the foundation for improved services in distance learning, telehealth and e-commerce. Rural areas and smaller communities will benefit the most from this decision in the immediate future. This is the most important investment the government has made in rural Alberta since the elimination of party lines and the establishment of independent telephone line service to all Albertans. There is currently not the critical mass to provide incentive to a company to go in on its own and offer leading edge service at an affordable rate. This initiative provides the incentive – by establishing the government as the anchor tenant on the network – to serve these communities. People, businesses, schools, hospitals and municipalities will no longer be penalized in service or in costs because of where they are located. Albertans take pride and have a history of being innovators, and the number of "firsts" it has recorded – this is yet another powerful example of that. We believe we will be the first jurisdiction in North America – if not the world to build this extensive and this modern of network. The federal government has just announced it is creating a task force to look into how it can achieve the goal of high-speed broadband access to all communities by 2004. We are not just studying it – we are well past that stage. We are doing it. We are taking control of our own destiny – Alberta will be "wired" for speed one year ahead of the federal government’s schedule. As a result, this initiative could well end up being the Alberta Advantage for the 21st century. The full text of Taylor’s speech can be found online at: http://www.gov.ab.ca/is/speech/smart2000speech.html

Alberta edges ahead in broadband race

News | November 6, 2000

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