Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative
Encyclopedia
Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia is a government initiative intended to provide broadband (500 kbit/s upload, 1.5 Mbit/s download) services to 100% of civic addresses in Nova Scotia
, Canada
. The initiative is a public private partnership co-funded by the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia, and three Internet service providers. The Motorola Canopy fixed wireless 900 MHz system was selected in 2006-7 to provide the service. Prior to this program it had not been deployed in Nova Scotia.
with good results.
At the time of the 2006 announcement, data showed that high-speed Internet service was available to 72% of Nova Scotian communities, which comprised about 80 per cent of the population . It was estimated by the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development that approximately 200,000 Nova Scotians, 93,500 dwellings, 213 schools, and 5,600 businesses did not have access to broadband
services.
, was chosen and the government invested $430,000 in the project. The province used a request for proposals to find a partner company to implement the pilot project.
In January 2007 Seaside Communications, a small cable TV company based on Cape Breton Island
, won the contract to undertake the pilot project. It was completed by the summer of 2007. The province then issued Requests for Proposals for the delivery of broadband services to residents of seven zones it had created across the province.
telco services and 802.11 based "Wi-Fi" services. However, Canopy has a maximum download speed well under 5 Mbit/s, less than one-third the speed of the Eastlink cable wired service (15mbps), and an upload speed less than half that.
, but this appears nowhere in its contracts. Eastlink does not offer its own VoIP service over its own fixed wireless connection.
or IEEE 1901 on Atheros 7400 or Gigle Networks
541 chips). In more robust outdoor broadband-over-power-line (BPL) configurations it has worked well in environments (such as Washington Island, Wisconsin, where it was specifically selected over Canopy and has performed very well [YouTube video]). IBM and IBEC have announced plans to use BPL to serve 200,000 rural Americans. However, since power lines are unshielded, powerline networking tends to interfere with other radio communication systems in the short wave bands.
is a private company - a subsidiary of Emera
- although it is regulated by the government it cannot directly be ordered to provide any particular service. With the rollout of smart grid technologies the communications capabilities of Nova Scotia's grid could almost certainly allow for over-provisioning for rural broadband if this was a priority of the provincial government - under the NS government announced plans of 2010 the grid was due to be upgraded significantly before 2020. While the announced upgrades were mostly supply-sided (to accommodate distributed generation
) the US National Broadband Plan has explicitly included energy monitoring and management ("goal 6", chapter 12) as a right of all consumers. The NIST smart grid standards for authentication
, encryption
and verifiable legal bonding credentials of service providers are suitable to let third parties manage customers' private data. Emera must meet all these standards in its US subsidiaries so to simply copy them in Nova Scotia and over-provision its internal monitoring network to provide arbitrary communications services would not be difficult.
The prospect of losing literally all their customers in some communities has also forced Telus
, Aliant
and Rogers
to expand DSL and 3G, although unlimited-data plans remain as of May 2010 unavailable within NS. The most viable strictly private competing service in rural Nova Scotia is the "Turbo Hub" service offered by Rogers
using the Ericsson W35, which provides some users with megabit performance, however with an extremely high (approximately $10/GB) usage price. By contrast, a theoretical 1.5 down /0.5 up Canopy link would provide, for under $50/month, about 162GB upload, 426GB download, if in full use all the time.
In December 2007, the province signed contracts with two Internet service providers, Bragg Communications (EastLink)
and Seaside Communications to serve most of rural Nova Scotia
.
Seaside Communications signed contracts to deliver broadband services to residents of the counties of: Cumberland
, Colchester
, Guysborough
, Antigonish
, Pictou
and all of the island of Cape Breton
.
Eastlink
signed contracts to deliver broadband services to residents of the counties of Lunenburg
, Queens, Shelburne
, Yarmouth
, Digby
, Annapolis
, Kings
, and Hants
.
The following August 2008, the province signed a third contract with Omniglobe Networks to deliver high speed services to rural Halifax Regional Municipality.
In November 2009, both Seaside Communications and Eastlink admitted they were not going to be able to complete their portions of the project by the deadline of December 31, 2009. This resulted in public calls for the Province to invoke penalty clauses of both the Eastlink and Seaside contracts for failure to meet their timeline commitments. Omniglobe Networks however was finished by the deadline and was in the process of upgrading services to higher speeds as of May 2010.
Eastlink projected its completion date to be the end of May 2010, however in mid-June they acknowledged that a number of customers were still without access, and it would be up to six more weeks before they would be connected. EastLink declined to provide how many customers were still without access. Seaside Communications had stated its work would be completed by the end of summer (September) 2010 ; as of December 31, 2010 this pledge has still not been fulfilled.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The initiative is a public private partnership co-funded by the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia, and three Internet service providers. The Motorola Canopy fixed wireless 900 MHz system was selected in 2006-7 to provide the service. Prior to this program it had not been deployed in Nova Scotia.
History
In May 2006, the Nova Scotia government announced that it would work with a number of partners to ensure that every Nova Scotian would have broadband access. The Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative was established to deliver high speed access to the Internet to "100 per cent of Nova Scotia civic addresses" by the end of 2009.Rationale
When the initiative is complete, the entire province will have access to broadband services. When the 100 per cent target is reached, Nova Scotia will be one of the most connected jurisdictions in Canada and in North America . A similar project was undertaken in FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
with good results.
At the time of the 2006 announcement, data showed that high-speed Internet service was available to 72% of Nova Scotian communities, which comprised about 80 per cent of the population . It was estimated by the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development that approximately 200,000 Nova Scotians, 93,500 dwellings, 213 schools, and 5,600 businesses did not have access to broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
services.
Cumberland pilot project
In September 2006 the Nova Scotia government announced that it would undertake a pilot project to examine ways to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to rural areas . A 15 km area from Tidnish to Port Howe, Cumberland CountyCumberland County, Nova Scotia
Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor at...
, was chosen and the government invested $430,000 in the project. The province used a request for proposals to find a partner company to implement the pilot project.
In January 2007 Seaside Communications, a small cable TV company based on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, won the contract to undertake the pilot project. It was completed by the summer of 2007. The province then issued Requests for Proposals for the delivery of broadband services to residents of seven zones it had created across the province.
900MHz Canopy vs. WiFi and 3G
With 700 MHz likely reserved in the US for emergency use, and home cordless phones, Wi-Fi and monitoring devices now in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8-6.0 GHz range, the 900 MHz band is underused and has good propagation and penetration characteristics. After the pilot projects proved this fact, the Motorola Canopy technology was evaluated against other wireless alternatives including 3G3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
telco services and 802.11 based "Wi-Fi" services. However, Canopy has a maximum download speed well under 5 Mbit/s, less than one-third the speed of the Eastlink cable wired service (15mbps), and an upload speed less than half that.
VoIP use not contractually guaranteed
Eastlink had guaranteed, verbally, latencies under 100ms suitable for voice over IPVoice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
, but this appears nowhere in its contracts. Eastlink does not offer its own VoIP service over its own fixed wireless connection.
Powerline networking not considered
In the process of considering how best to provide universal connectivity, powerline networking was apparently not considered although it reaches very nearly "100% of civic addresses" in Nova Scotia and has up to a thousand times higher maximum throughput (up to half a gigabit per second using G.hnG.hn
G.hn is the common name for a home network technology family of standards developed under the International Telecommunication Union's Standardization arm and promoted by the HomeGrid Forum...
or IEEE 1901 on Atheros 7400 or Gigle Networks
Gigle Networks
Gigle Networks was a provider of high performance system-on-a-chip semiconductor devices and intelligent switching technology for home network, IPTV, consumer electronics and smart grid applications. The company is based in Barcelona, Spain, Edinburgh, UK, and Redwood City, California.Gigle was a...
541 chips). In more robust outdoor broadband-over-power-line (BPL) configurations it has worked well in environments (such as Washington Island, Wisconsin, where it was specifically selected over Canopy and has performed very well [YouTube video]). IBM and IBEC have announced plans to use BPL to serve 200,000 rural Americans. However, since power lines are unshielded, powerline networking tends to interfere with other radio communication systems in the short wave bands.
NS smart grid communications potential
However, such a deployment is complicated by the fact that Nova Scotia PowerNova Scotia Power
Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a power generating and delivery company in Nova Scotia. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board .-History:...
is a private company - a subsidiary of Emera
Emera
Emera Incorporated is a Halifax, Nova Scotia based energy and services company with 570,000 customers.It operates three utility subsidiaries:* Nova Scotia Power* Bangor Hydro Electric Company* Saint Lucia Electricity Services Limited...
- although it is regulated by the government it cannot directly be ordered to provide any particular service. With the rollout of smart grid technologies the communications capabilities of Nova Scotia's grid could almost certainly allow for over-provisioning for rural broadband if this was a priority of the provincial government - under the NS government announced plans of 2010 the grid was due to be upgraded significantly before 2020. While the announced upgrades were mostly supply-sided (to accommodate distributed generation
Distributed generation
Distributed generation, also called on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources....
) the US National Broadband Plan has explicitly included energy monitoring and management ("goal 6", chapter 12) as a right of all consumers. The NIST smart grid standards for authentication
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
, encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
and verifiable legal bonding credentials of service providers are suitable to let third parties manage customers' private data. Emera must meet all these standards in its US subsidiaries so to simply copy them in Nova Scotia and over-provision its internal monitoring network to provide arbitrary communications services would not be difficult.
Regulations and rights of way
Improvements are hindered by an extremely ambiguous regulatory environment in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where provincial regulators often are unaware that they, not the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, regulate access to power poles and can set tariffs for any use of these for communications. While provinces may use these to recover revenue for rights of way the province lends the power and communications firms, so far only New Brunswick Power (a directly provincially owned "crown corporation") has done this. No electric power company in the Canadian Maritimes has directly competed in communications.Wireless upgrades by competitors
The Community Access Program (C@P) of the Nova Scotia government has, in the wake of better connectivity for most users, also shifted priorities from libraries and schools to serving community centres, provincial parks and historic sites with wireless Internet - meaning 802.11 access points. These often serve persons without home access.The prospect of losing literally all their customers in some communities has also forced Telus
TELUS
Telus is a national telecommunications company in Canada that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, video, and satellite television. The company is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver...
, Aliant
Aliant
Bell Aliant Inc. is a communications company providing services in various areas throughout eastern Canada, as Bell Aliant throughout Atlantic Canada, and under the NorthernTel, and Télébec brands in rural areas of Ontario and Quebec....
and Rogers
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless is a wireless telecommunications provider offering mobile phone and data services throughout Canada using Global System for Mobile Communications and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications...
to expand DSL and 3G, although unlimited-data plans remain as of May 2010 unavailable within NS. The most viable strictly private competing service in rural Nova Scotia is the "Turbo Hub" service offered by Rogers
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless is a wireless telecommunications provider offering mobile phone and data services throughout Canada using Global System for Mobile Communications and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications...
using the Ericsson W35, which provides some users with megabit performance, however with an extremely high (approximately $10/GB) usage price. By contrast, a theoretical 1.5 down /0.5 up Canopy link would provide, for under $50/month, about 162GB upload, 426GB download, if in full use all the time.
Project launch and progress
In October 2007, the Government of Canada confirmed that it was contributing to the Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative. The $75 million investment was cost-shared by the federal government ($14.5 million), the provincial government ($19.5 million) and the companies contracted to deliver the service ($41 million).In December 2007, the province signed contracts with two Internet service providers, Bragg Communications (EastLink)
EastLink (company)
EastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
and Seaside Communications to serve most of rural Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
.
Seaside Communications signed contracts to deliver broadband services to residents of the counties of: Cumberland
Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor at...
, Colchester
Colchester County, Nova Scotia
Colchester County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The appellation Colchester was applied in 1780 to the district previously called "Cobequid," and was derived from the town of Colchester in Essex...
, Guysborough
Guysborough County, Nova Scotia
Guysborough County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Taking its name from the Township of Guysborough, which was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, Guysborough County was created when Sydney County was divided in 1836.In 1840, the Township of St. Mary's, in Guysborough...
, Antigonish
Antigonish County, Nova Scotia
Antigonish County, Nova Scotia is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in northern Nova Scotia on the Northumberland Strait and its county seat is the town of Antigonish.-History:...
, Pictou
Pictou County, Nova Scotia
Pictou County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 46,513 people in 2006, which represents a decline of 6.3 percent from 1991. It is the sixth most populous county in Nova...
and all of the island of Cape Breton
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
.
Eastlink
EastLink (company)
EastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
signed contracts to deliver broadband services to residents of the counties of Lunenburg
Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg County is a county located on the South Shore of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, It ranges from Hubbards to the east and Vogler's Cove to the west.-History:...
, Queens, Shelburne
Shelburne County, Nova Scotia
Shelburne County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Shelburne County was founded in 1784 shortly following the influx of Loyalist settlers evacuated from the newly independent United States of America...
, Yarmouth
Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
For the ship built in Yarmouth County, see County of YarmouthYarmouth County is a rural county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It has both traditional Anglo-Scottish and Acadian French culture as well as significant inland wilderness areas, including over 365 lakes and several major rivers...
, Digby
Digby County, Nova Scotia
Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Taking its name from the Township of Digby , which had been named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby who dispatched HMS Atlanta to convey loyalists from New York City in the spring of 1783 to Conway, which became known as Digby,...
, Annapolis
Annapolis County, Nova Scotia
Annapolis County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia located in the western part of the province on the Bay of Fundy. The county seat is Annapolis Royal.-History:...
, Kings
Kings County, Nova Scotia
Kings County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Kings County is located in central Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy with its northeastern part also forming the western shore of the Minas Basin....
, and Hants
Hants County, Nova Scotia
Hants County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia which was the home of Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Alden Nowlan and Noel Doiron. The county of Hants was created June 17, 1781, and consisted of the townships of Windsor, Falmouth and Newport...
.
The following August 2008, the province signed a third contract with Omniglobe Networks to deliver high speed services to rural Halifax Regional Municipality.
In November 2009, both Seaside Communications and Eastlink admitted they were not going to be able to complete their portions of the project by the deadline of December 31, 2009. This resulted in public calls for the Province to invoke penalty clauses of both the Eastlink and Seaside contracts for failure to meet their timeline commitments. Omniglobe Networks however was finished by the deadline and was in the process of upgrading services to higher speeds as of May 2010.
Eastlink projected its completion date to be the end of May 2010, however in mid-June they acknowledged that a number of customers were still without access, and it would be up to six more weeks before they would be connected. EastLink declined to provide how many customers were still without access. Seaside Communications had stated its work would be completed by the end of summer (September) 2010 ; as of December 31, 2010 this pledge has still not been fulfilled.