broadband in alberta · broadband in the eatc region: 7.9% • in december, 2017, the crtc declared...

2019 © Taylor Warwick Consulting Craig Dobson 1

Broadband in Alberta2019 Local to Global Forum

March 7, 2019

þ The World has Changed

þ Broadband in Canadaþ Who’s Problem is It?

þ Broadband as a Utility

þ Regional Studiesþ Novel Options

þ Next Steps

þ Questions &Further Discussion

FPSP

2019 © Taylor Warwick Consulting

The World has Changed

Craig Dobson 2

Smart&Homes

Virtual&&&Augmented&Reality Autonomous&Vehicles

WearablesPhones&&&Laptops

Industrial& Internet


Participation Requires Broadband

Craig Dobson 3

… a ‘general purpose’ or ‘meta’ technology that impacts everything.


Take Agriculture For Example

Craig Dobson 4

Digital Building Blocks Applications

• New computing technologies • Big data and advanced analytics • The Internet of Things (IoT) • Artificial intelligence and machine learning • Blockchain • Virtual and augmented reality

Advances in Science

• Next-generation biotechnologies and genomics

• Energy creation, capture, storage, and transmission

Reforming the Physical

• Autonomous and near autonomous vehicles • Advanced smart robotics • Additive manufacturing and multi-

dimensional printing • Advanced materials and nanotechnologies


Wall Street Valuations

• Asset Builders: use capital to make, market, distribute, and sell physical products (e.g.:

manufacturing, hospitals, hotels, retailers)

• Service providers: use people who produce billable hours for which they charge clients (e.g.:

consulting, financial services)

• Technology Creators (Information Revolution): use capital to develop and sell intellectual

property (e.g.: software, biotechnology)

• Network Orchestrators: use digital networks of businesses or consumers to create, market, and

sell goods, services, or information, with the company acting as organizer (e.g.: credit card

companies, social networks).

Craig Dobson 5

Source: Ribaudo, W.; Technology is Changing How We View Industry, Value Companies, and …; 16-05

Technology*Creators

4XNetwork*

Orchestrators

8X

1XAsset*

Builders

2XServiceProviders

Digital*Divide


This Is About More Than Internet

Craig Dobson 6

!!

!Industrial!Revolution! Improving!‘Quality!of!Life’!not!‘Quality!of!Service”! Societal!

Transformation!

! Broadband networks rank among the most important infrastructure assets of our time—for purposes of economic development and competitiveness, innovation, workforce preparedness,

healthcare, education, democratic discourse, and environmental sustainability.

Source: CTC Technology & Energy, et al; The Potential for Ubiquitous, Open Fiber-to-the-Premises in San Francisco; 2017-10-17.


Broadband In Canada

• Based on the Internet Develop Index, Canada dropped another three spots in 2017 and is now in 29th place globally.

• In Canada, Alberta ranks 10th out of 12 and rural speeds are under half those available in urban areas.

Craig Dobson 7

30.429.1

24.923.8 23.4

18.2 17.7 17.1 16.4

14.0 13.6

7.3

23.7

11.1

3.6

19.4

15.8

12.1

5.9

3.5

14.1

6.34.6 5.4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

NewBrunswick

Newfoundland

Saskatchewan

NovaScotia

Ontario

BritishColumbia PE

I

Nunavut

Quebec

Alberta

Manitoba

Yukon

AverageDo

wnloa

dSpeeds,M

b/s Urban

Rural

Source: CIRA Factbook: https://cira.ca/factbook/canada’s-internet-factbook-2018

https://cira.ca/factbook/canada's-internet-factbook-2018


Broadband in the EATC Region: 7.9%• In December, 2017, the CRTC declared Internet as a basic service with a minimal

(residential) objective of 50 Mb/s down and 10 Mb/s up.• Across the EATC region, the new (minimal) CRTC broadband objective of 50 Mb/s

down by 10 Mb/s up is met in only 17 of the 199 communities – 7.9%.

Craig Dobson 8

Source: Taylor Warwick Analysis

0

5

10

15

20

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Lac

La B

iche

Lam

ont

Min

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Smok

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St. P

aul

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Two

Hill

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Verm

ilion

Riv

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Beav

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Cam

rose

Flag

staf

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Pain

tear

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Wai

nwrig

ht

Cypr

ess

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ile

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ell

Aca

dia

SA 2

SA 3

SA 4

Alberta HUB BRAED PEP

Num

ber o

f Com

mun

ities

Counties in the Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor

Don't Meet CRTC BB Objective

Meet CRTC BB Objective

A quarter to half of the population declines in the rural areas of the US is attributable to poor or no broadband access.

– BBC Magazine / US Auditor General


Who’s Problem is It?

Source: Scooters

Jennifer Massig 9


A Municipal Responsibility

As a utility, broadband becomes a municipal responsibility:– The key to Vibrant, Sustainable Communities, similar to safe roads and clean

drinking water.– Essential addition to your community’s overall utility plan and vision.– From young families looking for economically viable opportunities, to your

community historians who are in need of basic digital skills to carry out their daily routines, there is a digital gap that today’s municipalities are going to need to address.

– Long-Game (Municipal) vs the Short-Game (incumbent)

Some initial considerations:– Technology – What type of technology works for your community?– Ownership – Who will own and maintain the infrastructure?– Service Provision – Who will provide services over the infrastructure?– Business Model – What will be the revenue/cost model to support your

broadband system?.

Jennifer Massig 10


Options to Enhance Broadband

• There are a range of options available to communities interested in helping to facilitate enhancing broadband services. To best address Strathcona’s requirements, the focus here is on a do-it-yourself (DIY) community fibre network approach. Note that this does not exclude working with private sector partners to make it so.

– Status Quo– Incremental:

• Work with your neighbours…• Deal with fires as they occur• Embed fibre network requirements in planning processes• Accelerate currently planned IT infrastructure deployment• Leverage the civil infrastructure projects• Develop a Broadband Services Strategic plan

– Negotiate with current providers• Work with the providers – Shaw, TELUS, Axia, CCI, O-Net, …• Subsidize a private partner

– Develop a utility community fibre network• Assume fibre as a utility play and deploy a network as critical civic infrastructure• Decisions on governance, business model, financing, services, and operations will be required, but

– Other than that, you and your council can be as involved, or not, as you wish as– Options range from in-sourced to turn-key outsourced deployment of operations and services

– Together or separate?

Communities across Alberta are considering an open-access utility

network solution.

Craig Dobson 11


Community Broadband• Community Broadband has many advantages over Private Networks

– Survival of rural communities• Private enterprise will not service smaller communities and rural areas• Regional community broadband solutions can

– Capital efficiency• Deploying one network is 2 to 3 times more capital efficient that multiple private networks.

With this efficiency, more capable networks can be deployed more deeply into rural areas

– Connectivity infrastructure – multiple access networks supporting 80 Gb/s services• Required for traditional Internet to enable access to global assets, increased business

efficiency, and disruptive entrepreneurship• Going forward, it’s required to support advanced wireless access, autonomous vehicles,

management of water, wastewater, gas, and power networks, security and emergency services, smart agriculture and the Internet-of-Things – to which billions of sensors will be connected over the next few years.

– Services-based competition• With the network off the table, service providers can

compete on the basis of innovative services, affordability, and customer service.

– Social mandate issues• Communities can ensure the most bandwidth for the least cost vs the least bandwidth for

the most cost.

Craig Dobson 12


Harvard / Berkman Studies

Harvard Study Shows Why Big Telecom Is Terrified of Community-Run BroadbandCommunity-owned internet service providers are cheaper and better.Karl BodeJan 12 2018, 9:00am

Harvard’s latest study found that community-owned broadband networks are not only consistently cheaper than traditional private networks, but pricing for broadband service also tends to be notably more transparent, more consistent, and less confusing.

Harvard’s earlier study found that running an open access network (where multiple ISPs can come in and compete) usually dramatically ramps up this competition. In fact, [the study] found that open access networks routinely result in lower prices and better service. The more competition, the better the service, faster the speeds, and lower the rates.

Source: Motherboard; 2018-01-12

Craig Dobson 13

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/contributor/karl-bode


Regional Studies

Craig Dobson 14

REDI

PREDALSLEA

CRP

BRAED

CAEP

Alberta

SWSouth

-Grow

PEP

GrowthHUB

NADC

NADC

Completed Underway

CAEPBRAED

AGORA

Big Lakes

Smoky River

VRRA

South

-Grow

PEP,

et al

EATC EATC


Moving Forward

• In the past, communities considering their options would start with a Business Case to obtain a high level view of the options and financials

– Moving forward can then be done in steps with increasing detail.• Recently a number of interesting alternatives have emerged and an initial

evaluation is needed to see which, if any, might be applicable and worth pursuing…

Craig Dobson 15

FeasibilityAssessment

Community Enablement

Implementation Plan DeploymentOperational

Partnerships

Deployment Track

Business Case Business PlanMaster

Infrastructure Plan

Evaluation Track


Emerging Infrastructure Alternatives• ATCO

– ATCO is actively evaluating the opportunity to potentially leverage its infrastructure to provide fibre connectivity to ruralcommunities.

– The business models under which this may be done are being evaluated– ATCO will likely either do this on a provincial scale, or not at all

– Brian Krest from ATCO will likely let us know where ATCO is at with this.

• Gas Pipeline Technology– Some years ago, the technology to place fibre inside active

pipelines was developed in the US and then picked up inEurope. The technology, however, was not implemented.

– The technology is now being investigated for potential testing and deployment in Alberta by the Federation of Gas Coops.

– If the results are positive, the opportunity here would be significant.– One of next speakers was involved in some of these discussions and may shed

some additional light on this.

Craig Dobson 16


Connect Mobility

• In partnership with Rigstar and Hook’d, this spring Connect willbe introducing a new wireless technology into Canada.

• Their new wi-fi device will cover the same area as six of today’s units• The network will be offered on a Network-As-A-Service (NAAS) basis.

Craig Dobson 17

Range Signal Integrity Security Intelligence

2,000

active

users

600’

2,000’* High

Low WPA2/3

WPA2/3 +

Packet

Inspection

Basic

Analytics

Dynamic Resource

Alloc., Power Mgmt,

Adaptive to Environ.

Unit Cost

Associated users on multiple wireless VLANS*Range for internal antenna; external antenna can range upwards of 15 miles

$20

$4

500

active

users

Active User CostCapacity


Mage Networks• Mage Networks offers a system with ‘pipeline’ capa-

bility that can customize coverage to cover difficult areas.

Craig Dobson 18

Traditional Network MagiNet™

CapacityMax. 150 Mbps, divided among 3 sectors, since the spectrum interference is limiting. Declines rapidly with distance from the tower.

Whatever the ISP Chooses; limited only by number of data pipelines initiating from a single point. This depends on topography only, as Mage can follow any route. Adaptable and scalable with usage.

CoverageHigh hills, towers or buildings are needed as mounting areas. Obstacles, valleys and foliage cause issues.

Ability to access behind and around obstacles; bypasses dense foliage; can reach 100% of users.

Range Limited by signal degradation. No degradation for data pipeline. 20 kilometers have been tested without degradation.

DeployabilityPermits needed for tower construction, professionals needed to wire, install and test equipment. 12 – 18 months needed to deploy average network.

Low skill to install simple mounting kits on any type of building. Can connect to any type of input (internet). Can connect to any kind of client/receiving, including an Ethernet (cable network). 2 – 5 weeks to deploy average network.

Usability Skilled trades-people and network managers are needed to maintain, track, and repair.

Very basic, low-skilled labour needed to maintain network. Speed and data usage can be monitored remotely.


Recommendations

Broadband networks rank among the most important infrastructure assets of our time—for purposes of economic development and competitiveness, innovation,

workforce preparedness, healthcare, education, democratic discourse, and environmental sustainability –

San Francisco Broadband Project

• The advantages are many and varied. Only with control of this infrastructure can the communities ensure its policy objectives of inclusion, equity, and opportunity are available to all.

• What you can do today:– Develop broadband friendly policies– Incorporate broadband into your plans and leverage development

projects– Think and Work Regionally– Advocacy and Awareness for Stakeholders

Craig Dobson 19

2019 © Taylor Warwick Consulting Craig Dobson 20

Thank You!

Craig [email protected](780) 669-1605

http://www.taylorwarwick.ca/

Questions &Further Discussion

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.taylorwarwick.ca/

broadband in alberta · broadband in the eatc region: 7.9% • in december, 2017, the crtc declared...

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