High-speed internet a 'basic right,' says premier as connection projects announced

The Nova Scotia government will spend $1.4 million to connect 5,400 homes and 420 businesses to high-speed internet in the next sixmonths.

The 22 projects announcedMondayare an attempt to address persistentcomplaints in rural Nova Scotia that download speeds are too slow and internet connections unreliable.

"It's frustrating," saidAnne Nauss, a businesswoman in the rural community of Sweetlandin Lunenburg County.

"It's so bad sometimes I'd like to take a shotgun to the tower," addedWendy Nauss, also of Sweetland.

Sherry Veinot helps co-ordinate search and rescue in Lunenburg County. She saidthe internet is so bad outside Bridgewatershe could not download an important PDF from St. John Ambulance.

All three women and many more people with similar complaints were at the nearby Northfield District Fire HallMondayto hear Premier Stephen McNeil announce funding for projects that will connect nearly two dozen communities to high-speed internet.

"Your provincial government is listening, our municipal partners are listening and entrepreneurs are providing solutions for what is a basic right as Nova Scotians and as Canadians and that is access to high-speed internet," McNeil said.

Anatomy of a project

In the case of Sweetland, the province is providing $75,000 and the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg will contribute $60,000 for the construction of two towers that will deliver high-speed internet to 288 homes.

It will also provide WiFi at a community centre or fire hall.

The internet service provider, NCS, will be expected to meet service levels when it upgrades to 15 megabitsper second, up from the 1.5 Mbpsor no connection.

Mayor Carolyn Boliver Getson saidthe municipality is considering Sweetland as a pilot project.

"Access to reliable high-speed internet is not a luxury. We cannot afford to leave it to the marketplace. I know too many people who cannot sell theirhomes because they do not have internet," Bolivar-Getson said.

$6Mset aside thisyear

Not all of the projects involve building transmission towers.A number will see the installation of fibre optic cable in communities.

In November 2016the McNeil government said it would spend $6 million for small projects like these to bring high-speed internet into rural areas.

The Municipal and Community Rural High-Speed Internet Funding Program still has $3.5 million remaining and the Liberal government saidmore project announcements are pending in the next budget year.

The province says the next round of projects will roll out after it releases its long term strategy, a project dubbed "brightstar."

The government is also waiting on details from Ottawa's Connect to Innovate program.

The internet access event was one of six spending announcements made by Liberal government politicianson Monday.

The tempo of spending announcements has ramped up in recent weeks, as the Liberals have seen their polling numbers dip after a dispute with theprovince's teachers.

McNeil saidthe announcements are not connected to an imminent election call.

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