Rural Broadband Gets a Boost
While Canada's federal goverment talks the talk about extending broadband access to remote and rural communities, it is the provinces and the private sector actually implementing the plan. Telus and the British Columbia government unveiled a project yesterday where Telus Corp. will spend $110 million over the next three years to build out broadband services to 119 communities. When this project is finished, 366 communities in B.C. will have broadband access. The deal is a win-win for both sides. Telus gets more business from the B.C. government, including hospitals and schools, while B.C. is able to get broaband service across the province at no capital cost. This is deal that Telus badly wanted after it lost out to Bell Canada for the SuperNet project in Alberta in 2000. Meanwhile, the Canadian goverment continues to “study” the broadband issue - an exercise that will be probably be finished after every province has done broadband themselves.
