July 22, 2021 – Premier Jason Kenney has announced the province will be committing up to $150 million dollars as an investment to expand and improve wireless internet and broadband connectivity in rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Alberta.
The investment is a part of Alberta’s Economic Recovery Plan and Kenney says many rural Albertans are under served when it comes to connectivity in the digital economy. “Right now 12% of Alberta families or approximately 200,00 households across Alberta are lacking the speeds that the federal government says is required for adequate internet service.” Kenney added the issue is more thannot being able to surf the internet but to access services like digital healthcare.
In 2021, around 80% of Indigenous communities and 67% of rural communities do not have access to the high-speed internet targets set by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission back in 2016. The CRTC declared broadband an essential telecommunications service and set the target of 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads for every Canadian household and business as the minimum network speeds by 2030.
The total cost of expanding rural broadband to every Albertan community is estimated to cost $1 billion and the provincial government is working with the federal government and the private sector to share the costs.
The $150 million invested right now will be used to begin construction on broadband expansion projects as soon as possible. Details on how the funding will be dispersed is to be announced in the coming weeks.
-Erika Rolling, Trending 55 Newsroom
