Hope for broadband after TDC assets sold

Those assets included towers used for beaming the signal to homes, and receivers leased by TDC to homeowners, part of what was called a wireless backhaul system that gave fast and reliable internet service to an area not connected by the cables used in larger centres. Interested bidders had toured the sites where the assets were located.

EastLink, the progressive telecommunications company that is headquartered in Halifax, won the bidding. EastLink provides internet, telephone, television, and other data services to residents, businesses and governments in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

News that EastLink has purchased TDC assets will delight those in the area who have had a taste of high speed service, and who now are struggling with dial-up connections, which are slow and frustrating, and which tie up home telephone lines for long periods of time. Dial-up service is also hurting businesses in the area, which need high speed service in order to compete.

A company with the size and stature of EastLink will encourage internet users in the North Queens and South Annapolis area who hesitated to sign up with TDC due to its problems with getting the service up and running. A petition to EastLink that circulated in stores several weeks ago had a large number of signatures on it, asking EastLink to come in and provide service.

The movement on the North Queens front coincides with a recent announcement by the province of Nova Scotia, which promised that Nova Scotia would be the most connected area in all of North America. In late June, the government asked qualified service providers to submit proposals to bring broadband internet service to all unserved areas of Nova Scotia.

The government divided the province into seven zones, each made up of one or more counties, and each roughly similar in size, of unserved sites. Queens County falls into the South Shore zone, which includes Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties. The zoning was done to make sure that each area would be a competitive opportunity for companies interested in providing the service.

The government said that rollout of broadband services in the zones would all begin at the same time, this fall. Currently, according to government sources, 78 per cent of the population in this province is served by high speed internet service. The new plan will see everyone served by the end of 2009.

An effort is being made to level the playing field in the provision of service. According to the number of homes and the geography of the area, the government will provide infrastructure assistance to the providing company in order to ensure that the cost for the customer is reasonable and does not exceed that paid in urban areas.

EastLink itself is not saying much about its plans for the North Queens service, beyond noting that the purchase of the TDC assets is separate from any proposal the company might put in as the service provider for the South Shore. When I told David Caldwell, senior director of business services for EastLink, about the number of names on the request for service petition in the North Queens area, he said it was encouraging. I reached Paula Sibley, communications officer for EastLink, asking her when the North Queens service would be turned back on. She was unable to get back to me in time for this column.

I would expect the company to join other bidders in providing high speed service for the South Shore zone. The company came into existence in 1971 when John Bragg started a cable television business in Amherst (Bragg Communications became EastLink in the late 1990s). In 1997, the company launched high speed internet service for Halifax, a first for Nova Scotia. This year, EastLink was named one of the top 50 Best Managed Companies in Canada, a highly-prestigious award.

People in Queens–South Annapolis interested in high speed service should go to the province's website and fill out a short form giving their civic address, so that the province can pinpoint the areas needing service. That website is www.gov.ns.ca/econ/broadband. - Tom Sheppard can be reached at twsheppard@gmail.com.