rural broadband & eastern ontario regional network - laura bradley, action intelligence
TRANSCRIPT
Rural Broadband &Eastern Ontario Regional network
Laura Bradley, P.Eng
Actionable Intelligence inc.
Cloud Computing for the MassesCybera Summit 2010
Agenda
• Eastern Ontario BB project
• Why - Economic Development
• Broadband Gaps
– Infrastructure
–Speed
–Price
• How – Private Public Partnership
• Next Steps
3
The Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus
1,093,000 Citizens
Area Is >:
- 109 countries
- 9x PEI
- Equal to Nova
Scotia
- 50,000 sq kms
- Rugged
Topography
- Home 10 FN
Rural Citizens
Communicate, Collaborate, Contribute
EOWC Broadband Objective
• Have a high capacity broadband network that would provide vast majority of citizens with affordable, reliable and fast internet
• Leverage the other investments that have already been made in rural broadband
• Extend into areas where Rural Connections could not
Farther and Faster
Why?
• Economic Development #1 priority
• Lost of over 12,000 full time jobs in less then 3 years
• Skills were focused on manufacturing – less knowledge workers or IT oriented businesses/skills
• Inability to deliver new jobs and new skills
Transform Economic Base of EO
Skills Development
• Old World skills have been relied on for decades
• Lack of jobs in IT and software creates less training, creates less education focus and less opportunity
• Need to set the foundation to develop the new skills and use of technology to reach our goals
Gaps – How big are Rural gaps?
• Physical Gaps – infrastructure
• Cost gaps – rural residents tend to pay more
• Speed gaps – dial up, satellite, 1.5Mbps, 3 Mbps
Pay More, Get less
Bell/RogersDSL
RogersDSL
RogersDSL
BellDSL
Treed Area
PoorUSB/wireless
DSL Area
USB Sticks
Fixed Wireless
Satellite
DSL
Dial UpInfrastructure
Gaps
Cost Gaps
• Purely business case issue
• Fewer users results in less potential revenue
yet the costs to deliver are relatively high
• ISPs measure in $ per subscriber and
analysis is based on households per square
kilometer
Minimal Business Case
Government Intervention is a must
Speed Gap
• To date most government programs to
deliver to citizens have set 1.5Mbps as their
benchmark
• Goal has not changed in more then 7 years –
entire lifecycle of technology in this industry
• Rural Communities are not provided
equivalent options
Disparity based on where we live
- Hindering our ability to grow and compete
Growing Bandwidth Demand
Need for Speed – Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, March 2009
Rural Areas need speed!
Brief Look at History• Ontario – Rural Connections
– 1 year Program 2007 & 4 Year Program 2008
– Invested more then $35M in rural broadband infrastructure
– Focus on building i/s and awareness
• SuperNet
– Build backbone to MUSH and ISPs will connect
– Placed fibre to large number of communities where facilities did not exist
– Spurred competition
Still gaps – coverage and affordability
EORN Philosophy• Large backbone - scale 20 + year
investment
• Drive fibre transport as close to user as economically feasible
• Target 85% of population for 10 Mbps to the home
• Target 95% for at least 1.5Mbps – contract for affordable satellite infill – terrain & density
Targets for coverage, speed and prices
The Backbone
• 160 POPs of Gigabit Ethernet – 10G backbone that can scale to 100G
• Access connections of 10M,100M or 1G
• Leverage existing asset base and increment to provide greater reach
• DWDM transport technology
• Partnership with Bell/Bell Aliant
Build for Future – release constraints
The Access• Last mile – 10Mbps to the home
• Broken into zones based on POP locations & timing
• Use household density and current definition of served (1.5 Mbps) to define priority areas
• Technology neutral – we define service requirements not technology delivery
Reaching Citizens is essential
Satellite
• Try to reach as close to 100%
• Areas where no business case – household density is too low
• Infill areas challenged by severe terrain
• Contract to make sure services are affordable and that users receive minimum service specification
Users want affordable services
Next Steps
• Finalize the contract with the preferred
satellite vendor
• Issue access RFPs to match POP
activations to ensure that citizens can
obtain the 10 Mbps objective
Provide 21st Century Infrastructure