NetSet defends federal high-speed Internet contract

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This article was published 14/10/2015 (3852 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The owner of NetSet Communications believes a group of Internet service providers could railroad critical infrastructure needed to provide greater Internet access and speed to rural residents.

Charlie Clark said claims made by the Independent Manitoba Wireless Internet Providers Association (IMWISPA) that the federal government’s Connecting Canadians Digital 150 Program was rushed and has the potential to waste millions of taxpayers’ dollars are false.

“These self-preserving activities of the small ISPs are, well, quite reprehensible,” Clark said. “The broader interests of many should not be crushed for the interests of a few.”

Part of the Digital 150 Program’s mandate is to increase Internet speeds to five megabits per second download and one megabit per second upload (5/1 Mbps) to 98 per cent of Canadian households, mainly in rural and remote communities.

By 2017, the government intends to invest $305 million to address gaps in service, providing 280,000 Canadians with high-speed, broadband access.

On June 20, Brandon-Souris Conservative incumbent Larry Maguire announced Brandon-based NetSet would be awarded up to $12 million to build new towers, including 18 in the riding.

Clark said yesterday that figure wasn’t accurate as NetSet applied for $9.9 million as part of an approximately $22-million plan to provide high-speed Internet to as many as 48,000 households in the province. NetSet plans to use private money to fund the rest of its plan.

Projects that exceeded $10 million were subject to additional government processes and might take longer to reach a decision point, according to application guidelines.

The program asked ISPs to identify local speed rates to identify eligible areas that could qualify for funding. However, it also allowed other providers to show that service to households is below 5/1 Mbps through letters of support from businesses, institutions and residents from the area.

“Advertising a speed and delivering it are two different things,” Clark said. “Our market data research has indicated that there are a lot of areas that have claimed to have been serviced by other providers, who incidentally applied for funds to the same program and were denied for various reasons, and customers are not getting that service.”

Clark said NetSet went as far as to get OOKLA speed tests done in particular areas that confirm speeds weren’t high enough. OOKLA is viewed as one of the standards in Internet metrics.

He also questioned the legitimacy of IMWISPA, which was only formed in April 2015, according to its president’s LinkedIn account.

IMWISPA claims to be a co-operative group of service providers with a mandate to work with and promote rural service providers to all levels of government, business and to the public. The association represents more than 17 providers and more than 10,000 mostly rural users.

In his estimation, Clark doubted if there were even 17 smaller ISPs in the province.

NetSet applied to become a member of the IMWISPA but was declined.

“This is no longer a business for the hobbyists,” Clark said. “This is critical infrastructure and it has to be built properly. Designed properly. It has to scale.

“If you can’t keep up with the demands of today’s customers, the customer shouldn’t suffer as a result of that.”

Several of the proposed new towers are near major centres that are already being serviced by ISPs. Towers will be built near Virden, Souris and Killarney.

Clark said NetSet will remain focused on rural customers and that existing customers in areas already served by other ISPs would have no incentive to switch to NetSet — although they won’t be turned away.

“It’s part of the design of our network and we have to deal with topography,” Clark said.

A self-described “capitalist,” Clark said he understands the group’s frustration if it’s focused on public money competing with private enterprise. But that’s the world the companies exist in and all of them had equal opportunity to apply for the same money his company was awarded.

He has also reached out to some smaller providers about acquiring them.

Clark even went so far as to say the funds don’t need to come to NetSet, “but let’s make sure that rural Manitoba gets the service they deserve,” and that no one is standing in the way of progress.

“Trying to say that they provide the service when that is not factual — that is not the way this should go.”

» ctweed@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @CharlesTweed