Need for broadband clear, Tories’ motivation to provide it less so

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2020 (1466 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton announced in May that the government was investigating ways of using existing telecommunications infrastructure to extend high-speed internet service to remote and northern areas, it didn’t seem like that big a deal.

Promises like this have been made many times before but Manitoba remains one of the least-connected provinces in the country.

Turns out the announcement was a pretty big deal.

A request for proposal issued by Wharton’s department last spring has the potential to reshape the data landscape in Manitoba, with thousands of kilometres of underutilized fibre optic cable — a network that industry analysts believe could be worth more than $1 billion — hanging in the balance.

At issue is the network of cables laid by Hydro along every transmission line and relay station. Starting in the mid-1990s, Hydro installed it to provide real-time monitoring for its transmission system.

Although not designed as a telecommunications network, the cable has always had potential to be used to extend broadband service to remote areas.

The utility is using only a tiny fraction of the network’s capacity for its own purposes. Over the years, Hydro used a subsidiary, Manitoba Hydro Telecom, to negotiate limited access on an ad hoc basis. But for reasons that are not entirely understood, little was done to make use of the network’s enormous potential.

However, what is worrying some of those northern and remote communities — and the smaller, regional internet service providers that have tried to bridge the connectivity gaps in the province — is the government’s plan to open up more access to the network.

According to a government spokesman, who asked not to be named, the Tories are not interested in selling or leasing the network to an existing internet carrier. Instead, the RFP is seeking private partners willing to make significant investments to connect underserviced communities in exchange for access to the fibre optic network.

It’s a bold and — according to some entities already involved in connecting underserviced Manitobans to broadband service — potentially risky strategy.

“These are not idle concerns,” said Ken Sanderson, executive director of Broadband Communications North (BCN), a non-profit consortium of tribal councils that attempts to provide northern and remote communities — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — with affordable, high-speed internet.

“(The RFP) is something that could fundamentally change the game when it comes to extended internet service.”

Sanderson said BCN has helped more than 50 communities obtain internet service in one form or another. More than half of those communities rely on connections to the fibre optic network in deals negotiated with Manitoba Hydro Telecom.

Sanderson agreed that access to the network has been difficult to secure and supports any measures that would help communities gain access to it. However, smaller companies and non-profits have reason to fear big internet service providers who have a track record of bullying regional players to dominate the market.

There have been many instances in Manitoba where smaller ISPs are gobbled up by larger entities, which then force customers to move to different — and often more expensive — service connections, he said.

BCN currently offers service to individuals and facilities such as schools, hospitals and First Nation band offices that is many times cheaper than the rates that would be charged by private ISPs, if they were even able to make a connection to their own networks.

In many instances, it’s just too expensive for a private business to build the infrastructure needed to connect a remote community to a main network. The enormous up-front capital cost has largely left private ISPs looking for government handouts to build into underserviced regions.

In that context, Wharton’s RFP has the potential to be a game-changer. But only if somehow the province is able to ensure that a single private telecom company — did someone say Bell MTS? — isn’t given the keys to the Hydro network, allowed to discourage competition and gouge end users.

The government spokesman said there are requirements in the RFP to ensure rates that are well within a range of comparables charged in more populated communities. There is also a plan to protect existing deals.

Still, there are lingering concerns that Bell MTS, or another major player in the industry, will become the sole “gatekeeper” for the Hydro n etwork and, in so doing, will dictate how and when service is rolled out.

Transparency is key to this process and, so far, the Tory government has failed miserably to keep all affected parties informed on the broader strategy behind the RFP and the decision to effectively shutter Manitoba Hydro Telecom.

Most of the subsidiary’s staff have been laid off and it has been ordered to stop taking on any additional work, a development that has spooked many of those who were already working to extend broadband to underserved communities.

The ultimate goal of the RFP is admirable, but the communications effort has to improve.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca