Alberta consults on SuperNet expansion

As the Alberta government consults on plans to expand its SuperNet broadband network, industry observers say the network could play a bigger role in increasing access and competition. Launched in 2000, the Alberta government funded the creation of SuperNet to bridge the digital divide between unconnected remote communities and more populated served by commercial Internet service providers (ISPs). The network, which combines fibre and wireless towers, was also built to provide public institutions with high-speed Internet. In October the Alberta government began consulting with communications technology providers to research how to improve and expand the network’s capacity and reach. The government is expected to follow up with a request for proposals next spring. The expansion should be completed two years after the bid is awarded. Today SuperNet connects 429 communities and is used by 80 independent Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide residential and commercial broadband services. But Chet Perry, president of Pathcom Wireless Inc., one of the first wireless ISPs to connect to the network, said in an interview it’s too expensive for many small ISPs to use SuperNet infrastructure to serve rural residents. Pathcom formerly offered residential services, but sold that portion of the business to Barrett Xplore Inc. in order to focus on business clients in the resources and recreational sectors. Perry said it takes “millions of dollars” to develop and operate a wireless ISP serving homes and businesses. “The small companies like ourselves were not really able to compete,” he said. Many of the ISPs using SuperNet offer the services on unlicensed wireless spectrum—airspace shared with a range of devices, including wireless routers, microwave ovens and cordless phones. Perry said that as more customers sign up for wireless Internet service, interference from other wireless devices, as well as wireless Internet users, becomes a larger problem, slowing downloads and increasing the number of lost connections. Perry said these issues could result in a number of ISPs seeking financial rescue by way of mergers or acquisitions. “Ultimately there’s going to be some kind of consolidation,” he said. “I’m working with a couple of major companies that I think have the dollars and the horsepower, and I’m saying, hey, there’s an opportunity here. But it requires a lot of capital, and it requires that we consolidate a lot of companies.” Independent technology consultant Bill St. Arnaud said in an interview SuperNet could be improved. He said the network was supposed to do two things: improve rural broadband connectivity and help spur ISP competition in urban areas to drive down prices. But in the end, he said, SuperNet focused on the rural part, leaving the urban component behind. “That was part of the original vision, and I don’t think that was quite fulfilled,” he said. St. Arnaud said SuperNet has succeeded overall as an example of government-supported broadband. He said the Australian government seems to have taken the SuperNet route with its own national broadband initiative. St. Arnaud said the Australian plan has one advantage over Alberta’s network: while the Australian network will connect directly to homes through fibre, SuperNet only uses fibre to connect to central nodes in community centres. “That’s one of the challenges,” he said. “The basic bandwidth in the initial design done over 10 years ago was 10 megabits to every community. That’s clearly inadequate. Part of the problem is a large part of the infrastructure was wireless backhaul. They did not make the investment of putting fibre in everywhere. Now they have to go back and revisit that.” Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk, the provincial minister responsible for SuperNet, said in an interview that fibre-optic cables are expensive and the government must be fiscally responsible. “We know there’s been a little bit of frustration out there, and some of the ISPs have not been able to go into parts of Alberta because it has not been economically viable,” she said. Klimchuk said the government will issue the call for proposals to improve to-the-home connectivity and help ensure universal broadband access. She added that 34 per cent of rural Albertans don’t have Internet connections. Some ISPs say SuperNet helped connect remote communities. Vic Haddad, president of Milk River Cable, a non-profit ISP serving 700 residential and business customers in Milk River, said in an interview that SuperNet has brought reliable broadband to the municipality, which has helped reinvigorate its economy. “Some of the businesses that operated out of their homes in the big cities sold their homes and moved here,” Haddad said, adding that Milk River now has a range of home-based businesses. “There’ve been a couple of advertising companies that have moved here, doing national campaigns and design out of their homes. We have a large photographer here now, and because of the high-speed Internet he can transmit images to labs to have the pictures produced.” Jim Martin, head of education and special exhibits at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre near Fort MacLeod, said SuperNet has benefited the centre. Prior to SuperNet, the centre used slow dial-up Internet connections, he said. It took staff five hours to send an expense report. Now reports are sent instantaneously, and the centre uses videoconferences as part of its teaching methods, he said. news@thewirereport.ca

Alberta consults on SuperNet expansion

News | December 8, 2010

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