Gov’t cash will help expand Internet service
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/06/2010 (5684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The annoying squeal of a dial-up Internet modem could soon be a sound of the past for thousands of households in rural and northern Manitoba.
Manitoba NetSet Ltd. — a consortium of nine of the province’s Internet service providers, led by Brandon’s I-Netlink — is set to receive a chunk of the $225 million available through Industry Canada’s rural broadband stimulus program.
With the cash, the group will work to provide wireless high-speed Internet services to Manitoba locations where the delivery of wired broadband service is prohibited by topography or sparse populations.
"Our mandate is not to compete with the wire-line services that are available … because they serve the market and do it quite well," says I-Netlink president Charlie Clark. "We really reach into the rural areas where wire-line services do not or cannot reach."
Building on the 150 "fixed point wireless" tower locations that I-Netlink currently has set up across the province, areas as far north as the Carrot Valley and Swan River Valley and as far east as Selkirk could benefit from the service expansion. Through the initiative, communities in and around the Roblin, Dauphin and Brandon areas could also see wireless service come their way.
"There would be a piece of equipment installed on the (home’s) rooftop that points to one of the closest towers, with a wire running from that piece of equipment to into the wireless router inside the home," Clark explained.
"Then, they would have access to broadband the same way as a DSL or cable modem in the city would be."
Agreements with landowners and communities could be finalized next month, with construction potentially beginning later this year.
Industry Canada’s program could fund up to 50 per cent of the cost.
According to Clark, there are about 12,000 households in southern Manitoba that do not have access to broadband services.
Initial funding provided to the consortium will provide the infrastructure to service in excess of 5,300 of those households.
If their second application is successful, Clark estimates their service could reach as many as 4,000 more of those households.