Why governments are spending more money to fix rural P.E.I.'s internet problem

For those ever frustrated by slowinternetin parts ofrural P.E.I.,the story line may seem familiar.

Not to worry, saysgovernment, wehave a plan to help you.We'll paybroadband internet companiesto encouragethem to expand into your area.

That is what the Island governmentjust announced this month, as it put out the call to companies to step up and boost speeds forthe 31,000 households government considers underserved.

Meanwhile another company, contracted by the federal governmentjust finished that exact taskin the past year.

The federal government committed to payingXplornetCommunications Inc. up to $1.6 million dollarsto bring broadbandinternet to underserved households on P.E.I.

Now, with a satellite and 22 towers installed across the province,Xplornetsays itswireless high speed network is available to just about everyone on the Island rural andurban.

"We did deliver on that commitmentby early 2018 to deliver service to virtually all households in Prince Edward Island, and we hope Islanders, by and large, are happy with the service being provided," saidJames Maunder, Xplornet'sVice-President of Public Affairs.

CRTCchangedspeed expectations

So, why isthe provincealready on the hunt for more internet companies to get to work in rural P.E.I.?

The P.E.I. governmentsays, unfortunately, less than a yearafter Xplornet finished setting up on the Island, what it currently offersis notfast enough to meet the eventual expectations of theCanadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

"Ingeneral terms, we were down here [with our speeds], Xplornet's come in and delivered service to this mid level, but we do want to reach the higherlevel that CRTC has an objective out there for," said Joe Rowledge, a senior policy advisor with P.E.I.'s economic development department.

It just requires more and more bandwidth, more horsepowerto drive all those things connected through theinternet- Joe Rowledge, Senior Policy Advisor, PEI economic development department

When Xplornet signed its contract with the federal government three years ago, the company says it committed to offering download speeds of up to 25 Mbps(megabits per second).

However, a year after Xplornet signed that contract, the industry's federal regulator the CRTC declared broadband interneta basic service for Canadians, and raised the bar for what it considered an acceptable download speed.

That benchmark went from 5 Mbps to 50 ten times faster.

By 2021, the CRTC said, 90 per cent of Canadians should have access to that speed.

'Agood benchmark'

Rowledgesaidthe P.E.I.government wants to fall in line with that objective.So any company awarded a contract under its new RFP will have toguarantee it can provide a download speed of more than 25 Mbps now, and at least 50 by 2021.

"I mean just look at the devices in homes now.I think last year at Christmas, one of the most popular gifts was Google Home," said Rowledge."It just requires more and more bandwidth, more horsepowerto drive all those things connected through the internet. So we feel this is a good benchmark to reach for, a good objective to reach for."

The networkthat we built on P.E.I. will be entirely capable to meet and exceed the speeds of theCRTC- James Maunder, VP of Public Affairs, XplornetCommunications Inc.

Xplornet's VP of Public Affairswon't reveal how many Islanders havesigned on with the company, except to say that "we're happy with the take up."

Maunderadded Islander's can expect up to 25 Mbps now, and even faster speeds in the near future."The networkthat we built on P.E.I. will be entirely capable to meet and exceed the speeds of the CRTC," said Maunder. "All I can say is stay tuned in the months ahead."

Still, Rowledge saidthe hope is to avoid having to paymore money to new companies every few years, just to keep up with the ever changing speed standards.

He saidgovernment will keep that in mind, as it looks through company's proposals.

"We're setting that 50 megabit benchmark, but we're cognisant of the fact it's not going to stop there," he said. "We're trying to ensure the solution has the ability to scale. That'sjust kind of our minimum threshold we're looking for, and we definitely wouldn't be opposed to an improvement even over that."

Companies have until Oct. 12to submit their plans to the provincial government.The goal is to have service agreements in place by the end of this year,so that work can begin in early 2019.