Bridging the digital divide
The smartphone is now the gateway to the internet, but rural areas of Newfoundland still trailing behind
John Henry Low and his wife live in the northeast United States. Recently, they discovered Newfoundland and Labrador, and isolated Battle Harbour, off the coast of Labrador, has become a refuge from their busy lives.
“A few weeks ago, we packed our bags and made an emergency trip,” he says. “The ‘iceberg therapy’ did the trick.”
This story is not uncommon; the province has become something of an international destination. Tourists come from across the globe seeking the peace and beauty they don’t find at home.
Not surprisingly, when they get here, they find their cellphones don’t always provide the basic functions they rely on day to day. Besides voice, they want to take photos and videos, navigate, search, and share text and images. Many use the phone to keep in touch with the office, the new normal even for those on vacation.
On paper, the province is well covered. Bell, the largest investor in communications infrastructure both in Atlantic Canada and nationally, claims that 96 per cent of the population in the province is covered by its wireless network.
Rogers, meanwhile, says it continues to invest in its wireless network, which currently covers a large part of the province's population. It touts its unlimited data plans through Rogers Infinite, says that it was the first national carrier to launch this sort of worry-free wireless.
But it’s not a simple story. A lot of the population is along the Trans Canada route from St. John’s to Port aux Basques.
“There are cell towers in the larger areas, but some regions are suffering,” says consultant
Mark Plough- man. “In a lot of places, you drive to the top of the hill to pick up the signal, otherwise it drops out.”
Residents of many smaller communities get in their vehicle and drive to find better reception.
DEAD ZONES
Newfoundland and Labrador is a big province, with “dead zones” common on the routes less travelled. The six-hour drive from Goose Bay to Labrador City has no cell service. Same with the north coast and most of the Northern Peninsula. Travellers on the Burin Peninsula hit a dead zone for about 50 kilometres between Swift Current and Marystown.
Cell towers cost about $600,000 each and have a range of about 30 kilometre.
“The carriers are businesses that typically want a one-year payback from capital investment,” says Ploughman. “Their business model is to look for incremental revenues from new subscribers.”
None of that works in rural areas.
“Still, the cell coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador is pretty good, considering there is a low population density spread over a large terrain with difficult topography,” says Ploughman, who is often on the road.
“The fishing villages were founded in sheltered coves along the coast. They tend to be basin-shaped, with access to the ocean and hills behind. They are sheltered from the wind — and also from cell signals.”
Every community would like to be within range of a tower, but in many rural places, the economics just don’t make sense. In 2018, the provincial government launched a costshared cellular service pilot program that will contribute up to a maximum of 25 per cent of project costs towards cellular coverage infrastructure upgrades. The original pool of $1 million assumes carriers and communities will come up with the rest.
Ploughman is a former assistant deputy minister for innovation and strategic industries and a former acting chief executive officer of Research and Development Corporation of NL. As an ADM, he had the rural broadband file.
“The program provided subsidies to carriers to upgrade and/or provide service in rural areas,” he says. “We realized that many consumers of bandwidth are mobile. But land-based services are mostly fibre and co-ax cable. We need to improve access to mobile bandwidth.”
It’s only been over the last 10 years that the “smart phone,” now also a miniature computer, camera and internet connection, has become the dominant link to the digital world. Most of the platform companies, as they are called, quietly pivoted their strategies to focus on these devices. While the hardware is brilliant and relatively cheap, it’s software that drives the industry. Voice service is just one feature of a complex package.
What’s more, most of the programs we take for granted are designed to be addictive, each one quickly adapting to the usage patterns of the individual. The short version: most of us can’t live without our phones.
BUILDING BUSINESS
In rural areas, reliable cell service is needed to attract and retain both residents and businesses. It’s a demographic issue, too: younger people, especially, demand it, and they are the future.
But there’s a catch. Build it and they will come – but not necessarily. Cell service is just one of the parameters of a thriving community.
Tony Keats, the president of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, is based in Dover, about 40 minutes from Gander. The organization covers 276 incorporated towns.
“There is a social need to talk to the family and an economic need today where businesses can’t operate without cell service,” he says.
“It really hurts the ability of tourism operators where visitors expect to be able to use their cell phones, to use debit cards and Interac. When they find out the cell service is spotty at the best of times, it takes them back.”
He also cites safety issues along the long sections of highway where there is no service. Still, Keats is optimistic. “The federal government set up a new ministry of Rural Economic Development, to ensure rural broadband and cell coverage are available across the country. We’ve been advocating that for a long time.”
ROAD WARRIORS
Cliff Rowe, owner of Fogo Island Freight, has been in the trucking business for 49 years. His company has nine trucks that work throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
“We depend on cellphone service, which is not that great in rural areas,” he says. “I’m on an island. We don’t have good cell service here. There are cell towers in place, but coverage is spotty. We often lose the signal. It’s a nuisance in this day and age. It should be a better set up.”
The trick in his business, he says, is to know where there is no signal. His drivers pull over to use local Wi-Fi. Back at the office, he knows where his drivers are and works around the dead zones.
“I know when they have a signal when they don’t.”
His young drivers especially rely on their phones. It’s a community issue, too, he says. Lately, younger people have been returning to the island.
“They are older and wiser and want to settle into something closer to home,” he says. “Good cell service is something they expect.
BUILDING A MODEL
Colin Corcoran, a chartered professional accountant who is director of finance at the Genesis Centre at Memorial University, used to own the Keltic Knot restaurant in St. Mary’s Bay on the Irish Loop. The region includes four towns and a total of 13 communities.
“Tourists on their cell phones came in trying to catch a few bars,” he says. “When they can’t use Google Maps and Trip Advisor, they finally look up from their phones. We are not a diversified economy. We need to help the tourism sector. We are competing in the global market.”
The solution came from a social enterprise, SMB Connect. As a private company, Bell Aliant couldn’t justify the expense, says Corcoran.
“We came up with a business case and the financial model that shared the cost among the carrier, the province and the community. It was a creative way to deal with an economic development issue.”
The result was a $1.1 million infrastructure deal for St. Mary’s Bay, with Bell paying 50 per cent and the province and the community paying 25 per cent apiece.
The backdrop is the changing fabric of the community, including the economy and demographics.
“When I ran the bar, I would talk to young fellows who said they would like to move home,” says Corcoran. “A large percent fly in and fly out. They would like to move back. We all romanticize our connection to ‘the Rock.’”
This is the only way for rural regions to succeed, he says.
“We wrapped the model in a social enterprise, where there is the triple bottom line of profit, and also benefits for society and the environment.”
The Cellular Service Pilot Project, as it is called, reached more than 12,000 people. The Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation is extending the pilot initiative in 2019-2020. During the 2019 provincial election, the Liberal party committed to enhancing cellphone coverage across most of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Bell’s partnerships to date with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s cellular service pilot project include the communities of Mainland and Three Rock Cove, several communities on the Great Northern Peninsula, in St. Mary’s Bay and Southern Labrador, as well as King’s Point, Pouch Cove and Lord’s Cove.
BUILDING ON STRENGTHS
St. Anthony, on the on the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, has a long history in the fishery and a growing tourism sector. Besides the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Viking settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows, there are attractions like hiking, berry picking, moose hunting and snowmobiling.
But something was missing.
“Before the two new towers, once you went out of town, there was no coverage,” says Sam Elliott, executive director of St. Anthony Basin Resources (SABRI), another social enterprise.
The new infrastructure is the result of the cellular service pilot initiative, where the $1.4 million cost of providing service to 16 local communities is shared by Bell Aliant (50 per cent), the provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation (25 per cent) and SABRI (25 per cent).
It was a traditional industry, the fishery, which allowed the community to participate. When the shrimp fishery took off, SABRI received an initial 3,000 metric tonne quota. It partners with Clearwater for the harvesting.
“You get a royalty, there is employment,” says Elliott.
Although the quota has been reduced, the royalties allowed SABRI to pay its share of the pilot project.
The funding provided a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) tower in Raleigh, and a cheaper, short-range SimpleCell pole in St. Lunaire-Griquet. The project improves the mobile network coverage and brings High Speed Packet Access and LTE mobile technologies.
The region has about 4,000 to 5,000 residents, but 30,000 tourists each year come to visit L’Anse aux Meadows alone. To capitalize, SABRI built a floating dock that hosted 14 cruise ships last year.
“When people come ashore, they bring their cell phones and expect to be on the Net,” says Elliott. “They don’t come ashore with their laptops looking for Wi-Fi.”
Cell service also helps with services like medical and fire. It’s all about rounding out services to improve overall quality of life in the area.
The latest project is a seniors’ home so people can stay in the community with the services they need. At the other end of the scale, “young people need their new technologies.”
Meanwhile, Elliott says, “business people come here on vacation with their phones — they can even run their businesses from rural places if they have Wi-Fi — away from the hustle and bustle of world of urban life.”
THE LIFE SAVERS
Duane Antle of Come by Chance has been a firefighter for 25 years. Today, he is the pastpresident of the board of directors of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Fire Services.
“We rely more and more on mobile phone apps to get emergency calls,” he says. “Getting improved cell coverage is a work in progress. But the system is working pretty well in his area.”
In an emergency, communications is essential, he says. Small communities rely on the traditional telephone system and many of the smaller departments depend on local pager systems. There are times when the local pager system has dead spots, he says. If you’re on the highway, for instance, a pager system doesn’t work well.
“As an association, we recommend departments keep the pager system because the cell system can go down,” he says. “We are also advocating for a province-wide radio communication system. It looks like it will happen, but it is expensive.”
For firefighters, reliable cell service is the best option.
“When you leave the fire hall, some of the communications you want to keep confidential,” says Antle. “The other advantage is that everybody has a cell phone today. There are apps where you can access pre-plans for fires. You can see who’s coming to the emergency. When everyone is equipped with a cell, it is easier to work together.”
For now, there can be dead zones along long stretches of road.
“My big concern is that when someone is injured, time is of the essence,” he says. “Within minutes, we want to roll the emergency services to increase the chances of survival. If you have to drive to the next house for coverage, it can add an hour.”