Plan to bring high-speed internet to rural Nova Scotia moving at dial-up pace

Nova Scotia government officials tasked with improving internet service in rural communities are focusing on what the demands could be in the future, rather than what people need now.

Deputy business minister Murray Coolican was speaking to the subject on Wednesday before the legislature's public accounts committee.

What might be an acceptable service speed today is going to change, he told MLAs, and so it doesn't make much sense to focus on current standards.

"We have to look at where internet use is going," he said. "I think we have to plan a system that's capable of more growth in the demands than we've had in the past."

Complicated and expensive issue

The government has budgeted $6 million for this fiscal year to try to find some short-term fixes for people whose service doesn't meet their needs. But Coolican repeated what has become a familiar refrain on this issue: it's complicated and expensive and it won't be solved overnight.

That much has been obvious for some time.

A government project launched a decade ago to connect the entire province with high-speed internet didn't come close to living up to that promise. Since then, pockets of the province have had their service upgraded, but many rural users continue to struggle to get something that would approach standard speeds.

Now the government is turning to the private sector and other levels of government in an effort to find partnerships to address the issue and share the cost. Coolican noted the problem isn't unique to Nova Scotia.

Making pitch for federal help

Data being collected will be used to make the government's case for a share of the money the federal government has set aside to improve rural internet service ($500 million over three years).

In the last year, provincial officials have completed a needs and barriers assessment, an analysis of technical options, looked at what other areas are doing and identified and engaged with potential partners and service providers.

Coolican's department is reviewing submissions from 12 service providers as part of a request for information and is developing a program to fund municipalities and community groups who might have their own ideas or programs.

Costly efforts elsewhere

In Kentucky, a comparable fibre upgrade is going to cost $325 million and take four years, said Coolican, and the Eastern Ontario Regional Network has spent $175 million over three years to address its shortcomings.

While he couldn't give a number for what similar work is going to cost here, Coolican said those examples show it won't be cheap.