Northumberland residents can expect to have fibre internet service at their house in three years time or less.
That’s according to Dan Borowec, Director of Economic Development, Planning and Strategic Initiatives for Northumberland County.
He spoke with us to give a better outlook on what you can expect to see once the broadband internet infrastructure is installed and operational.
At this week’s county council meeting, the project passed its latest hurdle where two municipal service corporations were needed to be created in order for the county to provide the broadband service and interact with an outside private company.
Borowec told us they aim to treat broadband internet like a utility, creating the infrastructure that would be used by outside companies.
He equated it to building train tracks, with the current broadband installation as creating the track, while other ISPs are creating the trains that use the track.
Borowec said there are roughly 40,000 homes in Northumberland, and currently one third, or around 13,500 homes, are unserved or underserved when it comes to internet connectivity. The goal of the current project is to connect all residences with fibre optic internet to the home.
The rough cost of the program according to Borowec is around $120-150 million dollars, with the County currently covering $45 million from provincial and federal broadband programs. He said the remaining balance will be covered by a private company that will be doing the actual building of the network.
Although it’s still early on in the process, Borowec said residents can expect 1gb upload and 1gb download internet speeds through the fibre connection at the time of installation. He added that they selected fibre as the method of broadband delivery due to it’s potential to be improved and expanded on in the future as technology develops.
The project will take 3 years to complete, and Borowec says it will be rolled out from east to west. He added that service will be made available as it’s completed, so some residents may have fibre internet earlier than the three year predicted completion date.
(Written by: Lee McConnell)
