Counties support cellphone service project
Over the past few years a joint effort to improve Internet access for the Eastern Ontario region has seen significant and critical success. Now a similar partnership is pulling together to do the same for cellphone service with emphasis on making sure ambulances and other emergency services do not fail to receive calls for help.
The United Counties of Prescott-Russell council (UCPR) gave unanimous support during its May 10 committee of the whole to supporting the latest project of the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus (EOWC) and the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN). The two agencies want to eliminate the “cellular gap” that still exists in many parts of Eastern Ontario for mobile phone broadband access.
“We have become so dependent on cellphones,” said Gary Barton, UCPR warden, “and there are ‘dead’ spots in our area. That is not good for our first-responders. We need to support this.”
In its own five-page brief outlining the mobile broadband improvement project, the EOWC stated that this project is now “the number one economic development priority for the region.”
The EOWC noted that most people and many businesses in Eastern Ontario use and rely on mobile phones and tablets to both keep in touch with others and also conduct business.
“Mobile broadband is an essential tool to grow local businesses and generate jobs,” the EOWC stated. “The EOWC also recognizes the critical need for a dependable and secure communications network for emergency services, usually called a public safety broadband network (PSBN).”
The EOWC’s own economic analysis indicates that improving mobile network access for Eastern Ontario would help create more than 3000 full-time jobs over the next 10 years and also more than $240 million in private sector business revenue. The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Corp. ruled last year that both fixed and mobile broadband should be classed as essential basic telecom services.
The EOWC and EORN have preliminary estimates of about $10.1 million for an improved cell network and about $14.2 for both improved cell and PSBN. What they propose is that all municipal/county governments in Eastern Ontario provide an equal share of the cost. That would total $440,921 for improved cell or $619,145 for cell and PSBN.
These figures could change depending on the final project design and any senior-level government or other sources of funding aid which might become available.
All the mayors on UCPR council indicated support for the EOWC/EORN proposal. Counties administration will prepare an official resolution for the mayors to vote on during the regular UCPR council meeting later in May.