Xplornet pitches plan to deliver high-speed internet to rural N.B.
A New Brunswick-based technology company is responding to a Conservative candidate's call for more high-speed internet service in rural areas.
An official with Xplornet say they already have a way to get the service to every house in the province but it may take government subsidies to make it affordable.
Jack Carr, a Conservative candidate fighting in the Nov. 3 New Maryland-Sunbury West byelection, filed a complaint with the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission this month about the lack of high-speed internet access in rural areas.
Carr said high-speed internet is a necessary tool for economic development.
Eddie Drganc, a vice-president at Xplornet — a company that says it offers internet solutions for remote rural areas — said traditional Internet firms cannot afford to lay expensive fibre optic cable to areas where there are only a few customers.
"The major companies don't want to pay the capital costs required to get that — let's just call it the pipe — to the house," Drganc said.
Xplornet is offering two alternatives — a satellite service, similar to satellite television, or a service through transmitter towers, similar to cellphone towers.
Drganc said the monthly charge is not far from what people in cities pay but there's equipment to buy and install for $100 or more.
"There is a point where we can't go below that installation, and so there's a group of customers who can't go up to that cost," he said.
Drganc said the Ontario government offers subsidies on that upfront cost, something he'd like to see the New Brunswick government do.
The Liberals have promised high-speed internet coverage for 100 per cent of the province in their first term. The provincial government says 90 per cent of the province has access to high-speed internet.
Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne accused Carr of "hypocrisy" when he filed the complaint on Oct. 16, wondering if it was such a pressing issue, why didn't the former Conservative government address it during their seven years in power?
Byrne said he toured Xplornet on Wednesday and said the company has tremendous growth potential. However, he said he is willing to talk to any company that can help expand New Brunswick's high-speed internet coverage across the province at a reasonable cost to users.
The business minister said the province might have to step up with some funding to make it happen.
"I certainly think that the government has been a partner in the past and will be a partner in the future. I think that we want to ensure not only [that] the service is available throughout the province but also [that] one area is not unduly penalized due to the cost of the provision of service," Byrne said. "We are in discussions to achieve that."