HIGH-SPEED RURAL INTERNET NEEDS A HIGH FIBRE DIET TO SUCCEED

The most reliable network to ensure high-speed Internet to all Islanders is through fibre delivery. Wireless broadband is uneven and inaccessible in many parts of rural Prince Edward Island. Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service is expensive and therefore impractical for most people.

It is widely recognized that high-speed internet is essential for Islanders to participate in the digital economy. This fact has become abundantly clear during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) defines minimum service levels for broadband Internet of at least 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads for Canadian homes and businesses. The

P.E.I. Broadband Deployment Gap Analysis prepared for the Government of Prince Edward Island by Stantec Consultants (August 2021) has identified many rural Island communities underserved by the internet.

Despite current and former governments giving Bell and Xplornet millions of dollars for internet contracts over the past 15 years, often at the expense of local internet service providers (ISPs), they have failed to ensure minimum internet service levels for much of rural P.E.I. This costly, egregious accountability failure of the King government and its predecessors has widened the Island's urban-rural divide.

It is incumbent upon all governments, including the King government of Prince Edward Island, to act to ensure that all its citizens have equal and fair access to all areas of civic participation. In this day and age, that must include accessible, reliable and affordable high-speed fibre internet service.

Herb Dickieson, O’Leary