An exciting announcement echoed from the lower chambers of the Winnipeg Legislature on Thursday, December 13—a message that may well be among the gladdest tidings heard by businesses and residents in the RM of Ritchot this year, not to mention a dozen other rural municipalities around the City of Winnipeg. The news? High-speed fibre-optic internet is one step closer to becoming a reality.
In 2018, Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen joined a collective of 13 reeves and mayors from the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, believing that such a collaboration could increase networking and cost-sharing capabilities for everyone.
They called their association JohnQ Public Impact Inc., and their overall goal is to enhance development opportunities, increase economic competitiveness, and make improvements to quality of life within the 43 communities of their municipalities. Their first major agenda item has been to bring competitive internet services to the region, an area where much of rural Manitoba has been lagging behind.
“Creating a regional fibre network to ensure residents across the region have access to reliable and affordable internet is a must,” said Brad Erb, Reeve of the RM of Macdonald. “Many of us on the campaign trail this year heard this loud and clear from our residents and businesses, that one of their priorities is access to [high]-speed internet that creates opportunities. In the metro region, internet service is not reliable. We have speeds that are far below those of the standards set out by the CRTC and those are the standards that we’re trying to achieve.”
Colleen Sklar, Executive Director of the Partnership of the Manitoba Capital Region, says that this step forward will help bring rural Manitoba communities up to par in terms of the services that larger centres can offer, thus providing the advantage needed to encourage commercial industry, which relies on the digital marketplace, to put down roots outside the Perimeter.
“It’s about connecting our communities,” said Sklar. “It’s about connecting us to education, the economy. It’s about connecting us to our neighbours. Good jobs, good industry… this project really does it all.”
Members of JohnQ spent the last year researching internet projects across North America and the globe. They conducted feasibility studies, consulted with experts in the field, and met with elected officials. In the end, a decision was made to partner with two well-established local and national internet service providers, WireIE and RFNow Inc.
“We have a network across Canada and in South America,” said Rob Barlow, President and CEO of WireIE Inc. “We’ve mainly focused on connecting the unconnected with trusted, reliable networks. We’re going to be assisting the whole team here on finding what’s available and enhancing it. It’s really about bridging the digital divide, [which is] a mainstay in today’s economy.”
At the end of the December 13 announcement, the three partners, including JohnQ Public Inc., signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The deal was official and the project can now be fast-tracked to the next stages: completing the design of the fibre-optic network and beginning negotiations with third-party internet service providers (ISP) and stakeholders. According to the MOU, JohnQ Public will be the majority shareholder.
The plan is to establish a backbone infrastructure around the city’s perimeter, providing the 13 municipalities with a baseline for hook-up. From there, ISPs will be tendered to continue the infrastructure into each municipality as they become ready. According to Sklar, many of the RMs are already shovel-ready and could expect construction to commence as early as May 2019.
Mayor Ewen says that May might be a bit premature for the RM of Ritchot, but he expects it could happen shortly after that.
“I think Ritchot’s ready to go,” says Ewen. “It’s just a matter of getting the final financials in place and [deciding] who’s going to be… the service providers and all that.”
As to the cost to Ritchot for hooking up to the backbone infrastructure, Ewen says he is uncertain, at this point, as to what it will be. This project, he says, hasn’t been included in the 2019 budget plan so far, but once costs become clearer he feels that it could be looked at in the temporary budget for 2020.
“It very well could [happen in early 2019], but I don’t see it happening that fast,” says Ewen. “Unless we do a public hearing to get this money out of the nominal surplus or reserve fund.”
According to Ewen, the municipality’s end goal would be to hook up every resident and business that doesn’t have an existing quality service provider. Grande Pointe, Howden, and Ste. Agathe, he says, have the poorest internet in the municipality. St. Adolphe and Île-des-Chênes are already being serviced to a large degree by the bigger players, MTS and Shaw.
High-speed internet was a major topic on the agenda at the open houses held around Ritchot in the weeks prior to this announcement. Ewen indicated to residents at these meetings that council has been seeking improved and affordable internet options for the RM from the get-go. Early on, they commissioned their own feasibility study and researched what other municipalities were doing.
They took a hard look at the possibility of establishing an RM-owned internet utility similar to the one in Hamiota, Manitoba. In this scenario, the municipality would have full control and it would operate similar to a business, requiring administration, a data centre, help desks, and ongoing maintenance.
In the end, the high cost of such an endeavor, coupled with the heavy responsibility and risk, proved something Ritchot council was unprepared to invest in.
“We’re not in the business of giving you internet,” said Ewen. “We’re in the business of making sure you enjoy living in the municipality.”
