SuperNet gets deadline

Government Efficiency Minister Luke Ouellette is threatening to fine the company delivering high-speed internet access to rural communities unless it finishes the job by the end of September.

Alberta's SuperNet was supposed to be up and running in more than 400 communities by January, but is online in only a handful of those. Canadian Press reported that libraries, schools and government offices in only 46 communities are now linked.

Ouellette says if the entire project isn't ready to go in the next seven months, Bell Canada could lose its $100-million performance bond.

The entire project was supposed to take three years to complete, and will cost the government $193 million. But there have been numerous delays.

"We've made great progress and over the coming weeks I think we'll be able to show that," Bell Canada's regional president Stephen Wetmore told Canadian Press earlier this week.

He said the bulk of the construction is done, but the testing remains.

Kevin Dodds, assistant director of the Yellowhead Regional Library System, which includes more than 100 public and school libraries in central Alberta, says most are still using dial-up modems.

"We're in a position where the consortium is looking to move to the next generation of library software, but because of the nature of this particular software, it requires a higher bandwidth and so we haven't made that move yet, until SuperNet's in place," Dodds said.

SuperNet will also allow libraries to offer more services to their communities, such as video conferencing.

with files from Canadian Press