PUSLINCH – The Puslinch Broadband Strategy is focusing on hiring someone to help the township provide good broadband access to all residents.
On Dec. 2, Rob McCann of Clearcable gave an overview of the strategy to council.
Working with the Puslinch High-Speed Internet Committee, Clearcable began working on the strategy in the spring to “form the basis of the township’s approach to broadband access,” CAO Glenn Schwendinger wrote in his report to council.
“This strategy would then be utilized in efforts to secure funding to assist with expansion of broadband service.”
In the report McCann states that 97.3 per cent of residential services in Puslinch are below the universal service objective of 50/10 (at least 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds).
There are also major gap areas (1,577 homes) in the west and southeast areas of Puslinch.
“The reason why this is a problem is because the density is sparse, less than 15 houses per square kilometre, in the major gap areas which makes it very inefficient for private sector service providers to actually build and service a market,” McCann said.
While the township could install its own municipal fibre-to-the-home service, McCann said it would cost about $13.5 million and the market is actually quite competitive.
In Puslinch there are 13 large and small service providers.
Also, eight internet service providers have expressed interest in some sort of collaboration efforts with the municipality. Six of those providers are already in the township and two are new.
“We hear over and over from service providers that they are going to choose jurisdictions where it’s easy to build and we’ve gotten some very positive feedback,” McCann said.
One of the recommendations in the report is to encourage internet service providers to build their networks in gaps areas in the township.
The municipality can also expedite approvals and help companies coordinate their construction efforts.
“Simply by encouraging these folks to do the things that we needed to do, they’ve started to do it,” McCann said.
He added the township can also provide letters of support to help expedite the approvals process.
This is where the new telecom coordinator or broadband specialist would come in.
McCann said the individual would “assist the town and the service providers by contributing to that overall effort, particularly from an economic development expertise, but also to ensure that there’s timely approval and implementation of the capacity and making sure that everybody understands where the challenges are and where the solutions need to be.”
He also said the coordinator could lobby and advocate for improved internet service in the township to all levels of government to ensure development continues.
The position would continue for about 24 months and cost about $8,000 a month.
“This telecom coordinator would be able to resolve those issues of residents – not necessarily resolve but convene a resolution with the service providers for those pockets of those secondary gap areas,” McCann said.
Mayor James Seeley asked if this was a position that could be funded by Wellington County and serve all member municipalities to address broadband gaps.
“I think that would be a significant undertaking,” McCann said.
“I mean obviously any advancement is better than no advancement, so if the only path forward was to do it on a county basis then that would be a step in the right direction.
“I would prefer to see you have someone dedicated to these particular areas for at least the next 24 months.”
Schwendinger explained the township has approached the Wellington County economic development department for internal or external funds, as well as Community Futures for funding options.
“We’ve contacted other municipal partners adjacent to us and around the county to see if they have similar projects or if they have a position that has some available capacity that we could share,” he said.
“And a few of them have expressed some positive interest.”
Schwendinger noted he doesn’t think one strategy will fund the whole position and funding will likely come from a variety of sources.
Another funding option is through permit and application fees when internet service providers request an installation on a municipal right-of-way.
“There’s a permit fee associated with that and then that would help offset the staff costs associated with this,” Schwendinger said.
“So there’s a whole suite of potential funding streams that we’re still in the process of looking at, but we just wanted to get the idea in front of council to see if you’re in support of it.
“And then, if you are, then we could come back with some potential funding opportunities.”
Councillor John Sepulis recommended asking Wellington County to fund 50% of the position because Puslinch contributed to the SWIFT initiative but didn’t receive any of the funding.
“In essence our taxpayers contributed to that program and unfortunately we didn’t receive any benefit from the SWIFT program,” Sepulis said.
“I think it’s only fair that they come across and help us in this regard.”
Seeley said he isn’t even sure the coordinator should be a municipal position.
“I have concerns with hiring staff members and them filling out paperwork for companies to apply for grants,” he said.
He suggested the companies could “organize themselves and set up an association,” adding “some of the talk around here was really stretching the boundaries of what a municipal employee should be doing.”
Other recommendations included projecting where the development is going to happen in the township and sharing that information with the internet service providers so they know where to extend their infrastructure.
McCann recommended the township work with Wellington County on innovative and cost-effective installation technology that could be approved for specific applications.
He also suggested providing public relations and communications support for existing internet service providers when they announce expansion plans or new service areas.
Council chose to ask the county for funding, as well as have staff report back with funding options, for the implementation of the recommendations.
