HALIFAX: The provincial government announced the first round of Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative projects.
With the announcement on February 7, the province said 86 per cent of homes and businesses will have access to the service, close to their goal of achieving more than 95 per cent accessibility.
“A better-connected Nova Scotia is critical to our expanding economy and our quality of life,” said Premier Stephen McNeil.” Today’s Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative investments, and those to come, will ensure high-speed Internet is available to as many homes and businesses as possible.”
In Zone #9, Eastern Strait, Bell Canada will work to get 1,500 residents and businesses from Goshen to Malignant Cove wired, at a cost of around $2.6 million.
Contracts with five Internet Service Providers including Cross Country, in Canning, Kings County, Mainland Telecom, in Middleton, Seaside Communications in Sydney, Bell Canada, and Xplornet, based in Woodstock, New Brunswick, have been signed with Develop Nova Scotia.
The province said multiple communities are captured under independent projects by Cross Country, Mainland, Seaside and Bell using wired technology while Xplornet will cover about 16,000 unserved homes and businesses in Cumberland and Colchester counties through a mix of wired and fixed wireless services. Overall, the projects provide access to connections for more than 42,000 homes and businesses.
“This round of the [Request for Proposals] was for those projects that could move to connections in a short timeline to allow work to move forward and see connections happening sooner,” explained Kelly Rose, senior communications manager with Develop Nova Scotia. “The next RFP will be released immediately to seek projects for underserved areas not covered in projects announced today.”
According to the province, work has already begun in a few areas and will start in most communities early this year. It is anticipated to be substantially complete over the next year. Another call for projects will be issued by Develop Nova Scotia next week to seek projects for areas that remain underserved and unserved. Announcements for those projects are anticipated to be announced this summer.
“Great places are accessible and they’re connected,” Jennifer Angel, CEO, Develop Nova Scotia stated. “The Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative is a transformative project – in the way services can be delivered and accessed, to support business startup and growth, for tourism and for residents. Our job is to ensure the project is managed with integrity, significant public investment is managed prudently and value is maximized and the service that is ultimately delivered is reliable and high quality now and in the future. We are committed to delivering this for Nova Scotians.”
In 2018, the government placed $193 million in an Internet funding trust to help connect more communities, homes and businesses across the province, one of the largest per-capita investments in Internet made by a province. In July, 2018, Develop Nova Scotia became the Crown Corporation responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to bring reliable, high-speed Internet to rural Nova Scotia.
In December, 2018, Develop Nova Scotia announced a call to organizations interested in providing Internet services in Nova Scotia to pre-qualify to bid on projects across the province. Ten pre-qualified organizations were announced in the spring of 2019. Request for Proposals for projects that could provide connections commencing in 2020 was issued in May, 2019, and closed in June, 2019.
An additional five pre-qualified organizations were announced in late fall of 2019. They join the 10 previously selected and all will be able to respond to any future RFPs.
Wired technology projects will provide minimum speeds of 50 Mbps to download, and 10 Mbps to upload, while wireless technologies will provide minimum speeds of 25 Mbps to download, and five Mbps to upload, allowing users to browse e-mail, download music and large files, play on-line games, and stream high definition video.
A breakdown list of communities by provider, access to potential number of connections, as well as Internet Trust funding, by zone, is available at: https://developns.ca/projects/high-speed-internet/.