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The solution for the future
The solution to this problem is becoming increasingly obvious and the business case for doing so attractive.
We believe that community focused Fiber To The Premise projects can help provide our communities with some of the critical infrastructure that can help us take full advantage of the Information and Knowledge revolution to contribute to a prosperous future for our community.
The intention of this project is not so much to compete with existing internet service providers but to provide a vastly improved infrastructure, which all service providers could eventually use on an open access basis, to deliver vastly improved services to Medicine Hat citizens. Services would include not just internet access but also competitive telephone options, entertainment, tele-health, security, remote education and many that have not even been thought of as yet.
Customer-Empowered Networking is at the core of this fundamental paradigm shift.
The goal should be to build a robust infrastructure that can be shared by many service providers just like we build railways and roads to facilitate trade. We need to take control of our networked future.
The solution involves building the supporting fibre optic network infrastructure in our communities, which can contribute to the effective utilisation of new technologies. The availability and proliferation of fibre is a critical infrastructure element for our communities. This allows people to connect to other people. Users can extend their network at home to schools, libraries and medical facilities. Users can access telephone, video and of course literally thousands of other services on "The Internet". The global economic network represented by "The Internet" is the emergence of a new era of global competition and innovation.
The Alberta Government got involved by starting the Alberta Supernet connection to service public institutions of government, health and education. Unfortunately, the SuperNet has not yet been extended to provide the benefit of that connection to people in their own homes and businesses. Significant opportunities exist for municipalities to help fulfill the promise of the "Supernet" for all its citizens. The Alberta Supernet provides an excellent model to build on and learn from. Community Fiber To The Premise projects represent the completion and full realization of the benefits of fibre broadband for residential and business customers.
A number of municipalities across Canada and around the world are deploying fibre networks. It is clear that our municipalities and regional governments have a role to play in helping facilitate the private sector to build the next generation of network access infrastructure which will allow the people of our communities to have access to world-leading fibre optic networks. Even a small community of 400 can create their own super-fast broadband utility to deliver services where the big players can't make a business case for it. Read more about this story at the BBC.
Organizations who are interested in learning more or starting a similar project are encouraged to contact us.
Of course an email with an expression of support would be much appreciated.
Growing in Rural Alberta Symposium