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

Eastern Ontario

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

Bell Map

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

Rural Broadband

• Vision in Context

• Strategic & Scalable Networks

• Economic Feasibility

• Reliability, Speed and Affordability for

Citizens

Thrive in 21st Century