ARICHAT: Council has agreed to support an application to upgrade Internet service in eastern Richmond County.
During a videoconference meeting of Richmond Municipal Council on April 14, it was agreed that the municipality will send a letter to support to Seaside Communications Inc. for its application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to establish fiber-to-the-home Internet service in the Potlotek First Nation, St. Peter’s and L’Ardoise areas.
Richmond Warden Brian Marchand said Seaside prefers not to list specific communities early in the application process because they don’t want to give too much information to their competitors.
“This Seaside one, they’re upgrading equipment,” Marchand explained. “Last summer, they upgraded the Dundee area… They did some upgrades to their equipment, so they’re trying to bring it up to…100 gigs.”
Council also decided to follow-up with Seaside Communications about their plans for improved Internet service for other parts of Richmond County.
Marchand said council also wants to know about Internet dead zones in the municipality like Cap Auguet, Janvrin’s Island, the West Bay area, Lower River Inhabitants, the Roberta area, and Framboise.
The warden said he was surprised to find out how many parts of the municipality have no Internet service at all.
“That’s not in their plans right now,” Marchand said of those dead zones. “I know I have some people in my district that area ready to call Develop Nova Scotia.”
During a special emergency meeting on March 16 in Arichat, council reviewed correspondence from Mark Duggan, senior manager public affairs and government relations (Atlantic) with Bell Aliant.
Duggan wrote council to make them aware that the CRTC established a broadband fund that provides up to $750 million over five years to provide broadband Internet access.
Duggan told council that the areas they are looking at include St. Peter’s, French Cove and Potlotek First Nation.
To ensure Bell Aliant’s application to the CRTC Broadband Fund is successful against other communities, the company requested council send a letter supporting their application to demonstrate “that access to high speed Internet is a stated priority for your community and that you support the Bell application.”
Duggan said he expects a decision will be made within the next six to 12 months, and all successful projects must be completed in three years.
While they voted to send a letter of support, councillors representing Isle Madame wondered why other areas of the municipality are not included. District 1 councillor James Goyetche noted that places like Cap Auguet and many areas around Isle Madame have poor service.
Deputy Warden Alvin Martell agreed with Goyetche that there are communities, like Janvrin’s Island, that need attention from Internet Service Providers.
Council approved a motion to immediately send a letter of support to Bell Aliant supporting any attempts to improve high speed Internet service in any part of the municipality.