County considering viability of broadband expansion project

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County is considering potential expansion to broadband access for the communities of Carseland and Speargrass, though this may be at a notable extra cost to local ratepayers. 

During the Feb. 17 meeting of council, county administration presented a report detailing what the expansion of fiber to home broadband could look like, as well as potential costs.

“For the county, we would have to look probably to pursuing something independently, similar to what we have done on our existing broadband project,” said Cory Adamson, general manager of corporate and financial services. “Our preliminary findings are that there might be a point of presence or an internet access point within the Carseland area, and so that could potentially support some sort of a broadband expansion there.”

Adamson explained according to administration’s initial high-level estimates, costs could equate to between $8,000 and $9,000 per door – or $3 million to encompass the entire project. 

Considerations would eventually have to include the uptick in local customers who would join in on paying for access to the broadband; however, there would be operational deficits until it reached the threshold of being profitable. These deficits are estimated to be between $122,000 and $160,000 per year.

Network providers such as Xplore have previously applied for and have been approved for funding from the federal government to establish high speed internet access in remote areas; however, funding applications are generally intended to account for 50 megabits per second download, and 10 megabits per second upload speed infrastructure. 

“The biggest concern that came out of (local surveys) was not so much the speed and was more around the reliability where wireless could be unreliable in, for instance, circumstances like (during adverse weather conditions),” said Adamson.

Among funding options presented in the report included the implementation of a local improvement tax, and a cost sharing agreement.

Another approach could be to try and entice a large third-party organization to invest in the area and make a broadband expansion project appealing to them to chip in on the infrastructure.

Coun. Berle Hebbes suggested council abandon the idea entirely, citing the previous survey as unreliable, and complaints from ratepayers being likely to spike during adverse weather due to localized malcontent. Coun. Rick Laursen agreed with Hebbes, citing that the county is not an internet service provider.

Coun. Donna Biggar expressed interest in launching a local interest survey to gauge desire within the division for the infrastructure, as well as how it may be paid for. 

“This is something that (was) brought to my attention quite a bit over the election and so I need to know what interest is out there,” she said.

Council voted 5-2 in favour of conducting a local interest survey. Laursen and Hebbes voted against.