Email from Nick Wood Re: Community Broadband
An email from a constituent requesting council investigate developing municipal internet infrastructure.
From: Nick Wood Sent: January-25-17 8:06 AM To: Mayor And Council Email Subject: Better broadband, better communities
Better broadband, better communities
Dear Elected Representative,
As one of your constituents, and part of the OpenMedia community, I’m writing to ask for your help. Canada’s market for Internet services is broken, and our community faces limited telecom options, slow speeds and oppressive data caps — all for some of the highest Internet prices in the industrialized world.
In December, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that all Canadians must have access to reliable, world-class mobile and residential Internet services at speeds of 50 Mbps download speeds and 10 Mbps uploads.
Internet access at this speed is widely unavailable in rural, suburban, and other underserved areas across the country. But you can change this.
As part of the ruling, the CRTC set up a new $750 million fund over the next five years to support projects in areas that do not meet these targets. Any new projects that have financial support from government entities, including municipal, provincial, federal, and aboriginal governments are given preference for funding.
This means our community can build its own Internet infrastructure — or “community broadband” — with financial support from the government. Community broadband is a public alternative to the privately-owned services sold by Bell, Rogers, Telus, and other Internet service providers (ISPs).
The municipality doesn’t have to become an ISP — it can build the network and let other companies sell services over it, such as nonprofit groups, small ISPs, co-operatives, public utilities, public-private partnerships, and other community organizations. To paraphrase from the film Field of Dreams, "If you build [a municipal network], [the ISPs] will come.”
Towns like Stratford, ON; Olds, AB; and Coquitlam, BC (amongst others listed here https://community-broadband.ca/success-stories) have already done this and it’s paying off big time for their residents. You can read all about what community broadband is, and other initiatives at https://community-broadband.ca.
We need you to help bridge the digital divide, and bring cheaper, faster Internet to our residents. It’s high time we invest in community Internet infrastructure as an alternative to Big Telecom’s expensive, slow, outdated networks.
Please do the right thing, and pledge to investigate whether community broadband is right for our community. High quality and reliable Internet connections are essential for our quality of life, economic prosperity, and to attract new business to our communities.
Thank you.
Nick Wood
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 08:05