A city in Manitoba might be the first in Canada to offer high-speed internet as a service to residents.
Morden, Manitoba — a city of roughly 8,000 residents located in the Pembina Valley region of southern Manitoba — plans on rolling out an “ultra-high speed, free internet service provided by the City” it calls ‘Morenet.’
Morenet will provide users with upload and download speeds of 100Mbps, but Dave Haines, the city’s director of planning and engineering, told CBC News that Morden is working towards gigabit speeds by 2021.
Additionally, Haines told MobileSyrup that the backbone will be “based on 5G technology.”
“We’ve set up an entirely new internet service provider.”
“All of the city’s main nodes are using that technology,” said Haines, in a phone interview with MobileSyrup. “The customers at this point are on current technology and… we’ll be up offering the opportunity to upgrade as it becomes more affordable.”
According to an April 5th, 2018 media release, certain residents will be able to access Morenet’s infrastructure as of May 1st, 2018, while the City hopes that every eligible resident will be able to access the service by fall 2018.
The service is available exclusively to taxpayers and will cost a one-time fee of $400.
Once customers having connected to Morenet’s infrastructure, users costs will be distributed through municipal taxes.
“We’ve set up an entirely new internet service provider,” said Haines. “We’re basically getting the internet wholesale through another service provider.”
Haines further explained that the City was purchasing its internet through Manitoba Hydro Telecom, a facilities-based carrier that offers fibre services in Winnipeg and parts of rural Manitoba.
The City will be spending between $300,000 and $400,000 to set up access points for Morden residents.
“It’s a bit of a specialized installation.”
“We’ve structured it that the City is going to take care of the backbone, similar to other services,” said Haines. “If you think about roads, if you want to drive onto the road from your garage, you have to build a driveway.”
In this case, all residents have to do is build the driveway to access the City’s internet service — a task that will be accomplished by certified installers.
“We’re not permitting individuals to make the connections themselves,” said Haines. “It’s a bit of a specialized installation.”
Unrelated to the CRTC’s broadband internet ruling
The City of Morden’s internet plans come almost a year-and-a-half after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that broadband internet should be treated as a basic service.
The CRTC also allocated $750 million CAD over five years, in order to ensure that all Canadians are able to access affordable broadband internet service.
However, Haines told MobileSyrup that Morden’s plans are actually not associated with the CRTC’s broadband internet ruling at all.
“We are not connected to the CRTC in anyway,” said Haines. “Our project was developing as they were doing their [funding model] — I’m not actually that familiar with their funding model.”
Source: City of Morden, CBC News
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