It was a tense evening at The Redwood House Tuesday night as the community gathered to discuss the inflated cost of a proposed plan to bring fibre optic network to the townsite.
Redwood Meadows council announced last week that Axia, the proposed internet provider, required $750,000 from council to proceed with the project despite the original offer.
In the initial proposal from the company that specializes in servicing rural communities with high speed internet, if the community could get the majority of its residents to sign up – at least 290 homes – the company would install a fibre optic network for $99 per home monthly. The town would have fronted $100,000.
However, after the company completed its engineering work, its estimated dig cost per home rose to $7,500 from $2,500.
“There’s a level of river rock, there’s high water tables, there’s low density,” said Robert Price, services vice-president for Axia. He added the availability of poles and the far distance from the closest fibre interconnection point were also factors driving up the cost for Redwood Meadows.
Council would now have to front $750,000 at the onset of project.
Leading up to the meeting, council decided it was too much at once from its budget especially while in the midst of planning for water and sewer upgrades and completing a lease with Tsuu T’ina Nation.
“I’m very tight on the budget, I don’t like to use it, especially when we come up to a lease and other big things we need to worry about,” said Scott Ackerman, deputy mayor. “The river rock came up in a number of information sessions and the general response was that it was something Axia would look into. In all fairness, we were never informed the cost would go up.”
To offset the cost, Axia proposed a three-prong plan.
A payment model would be introduced where residents would pay for internet with their monthly utility bill, the cost would increase from $99 to $109 and instead of two-year deal, the community would have to sign on for 25 years.
Representatives from Axia faced terse questions from frustrated residents who feel the plan has fallen sideways.
“I won’t be here in 25 years,” Linda Anderson said, directing her comments to Axia representatives during the meeting. “How can we rely on you guys to provide a 25-year commitment to this community without any terms without any renegotiations in 25 years, any review periods?”
“I don’t think anyone wants anything for a quarter of a century,” another resident interjected during the meeting.
The option to continue forward with the project will go to a plebiscite Thursday.
The Redwood community is in a difficult position as their current internet has been described as slow, spotty and outdated in the past by its residents. As well, the current cost for internet service combined with TV and landline phone ranges between $150 and $250 for all three services, according to a community website created to promote Axia.
Arthur Price, chairman and CEO of Axia, explained at the meeting the infrastructure set up would be open to any internet provider to access.
“We make our digital connection and our fibre asset available to anyone that wants to use it. So Telus can use it if they want and they’ll sell their bundles to you.”
The hamlet of Priddis, Alta., which has a population of about 1,600, has recently agreed to a similar deal, including a 25-year commitment. Their internet is expected to go live by this summer.
