Village of Andrew Examines Providing Internet Services to Residents

Village of Andrew Examines Providing Internet Services to Residents

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

The Village of Andrew is polling residents and business owners to see if they have the appetite for a municipally owned and operated Internet service.

Mayor Gary Leppek said, “The village is extremely interested in providing Internet service.”

In general Internet service is poor in rural areas, and Leppek said the system they’re proposing would have twice the strength they currently have. To that end, the Village decided to send out a survey to see how residents and business owners felt about the idea.

“If interest is great enough then we’ll move ahead,” said Leppek. He has already spoken to several business owners informally to get their input and said response has been encouraging so far.

“If we have 25 people sign up it would cover the monthly cost of providing the service.” Leppek said even though a private company would be the provider of the technology required to operate the system, it would be owned by the Village.

Leppek said the benefit of running a Municipal Crown Corporation is that the profits from the service would go back to the Village so it could use those funds to help improve the quality of life in the community.

He believes the service would be a good selling feature for people who are thinking about moving into the community. “It’s a heck of an opportunity. We’re in new and innovative territory which is always interesting and exciting,” added Leppek.

The IT Company that is proposing to offer the service to the village is Vegreville based VM Systems. Under the proposal the company would improve speed and access and rates to residents and businesses in the community.

Owner Arthur Beaudette stated, “VM Systems has been engaged by the Village of Andrew to help with potential design and evaluation of this network, but the Village of Andrew is going to be providing the service. We’re the technology company that’s helping to facilitate these first stages, and are working with the village on plans to provide Internet and related services to the village businesses and residents.”

He explained that, “The village is putting the network in and they are providing the service to taxpayers. Our involvement is similar to having a third party company build then manage their water system. Other municipalities are looking at this not only across Canada, but all over the world.”

System capacity would grow with the customer base and the initial services would provide speeds with up to 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) downloads. “In the downtown core we’d start with 50 Mbps, but it could easily be upgraded to 100, 200 or 250 Mbps and higher,” noted Beaudette. “The ultimate goal is to be able to provide services that are no different to those in major centres. The determining factor will be community interest and support.”