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Innovation, Business and Rural Development
March 8, 2013

Minister Corrects Inaccuracies in the House

In response to questions raised the House of Assembly yesterday, the Honourable Keith Hutchings, Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development, clarified that the Provincial Government is providing a collaborative approach to improving telecommunications services in Newfoundland and Labrador by working with a blend of both wireless and wired providers. Two of the four companies in yesterday’s Rural Broadband Phase Two announcement, Great Northern Wireless and Eion Inc, are wireless providers and will be delivering their service to the majority of the communities benefiting from the initiative.

“Questions raised in the House yesterday indicated a lack of understanding of the rural broadband initiative,” said Minister Hutchings. “Wireless providers can provide cost-effective options, but they require a backbone network that can best be provided by the larger carriers. Our investment reflects a balanced approach that continues to build the core infrastructure while inviting wireless firms to leverage that infrastructure for broader, more cost effective delivery in areas where wired services are cost prohibitive. We can't have one without the other.”

Strategic investments and successful partnerships have been the cornerstone to delivering innovative and customized broadband solutions. It is an approach that has led to more than 500 communities having access in Newfoundland and Labrador – up from 114 communities in 2003.

“The telecommunications sector is federally regulated and within that environment the Provincial Government has provided incentives for carriers to deliver access where the business case is not strong enough for them to make investments by themselves,” said Minister Hutchings. “We entice carriers by supporting infrastructure builds to these areas at 75 per cent with public funds.”

The Provincial Government announced Phase One of the Rural Broadband Initiative in December 2011 and provided $7 million to Internet service providers to help address network capacity issues in Labrador and create broadband access in communities in the Northern Peninsula, western, central, and eastern regions.

Phase Two of the Rural Broadband Initiative was announced on March 5. An investment of $1.5 million will improve broadband access and increase communications capacity for approximately 40 communities in rural regions and will leverage $1.5 million. With this investment, high speed Internet access will be available to almost 89 per cent of residents on the island portion of the province. In Labrador, 95 per cent of residents already have access to high speed Internet.

“The $1.5 million investment in Phase Two reflects the projects which have been approved in principle by partners to date,” said Minister Hutchings. “We are still committed to investing the remaining $500,000 in the rural broadband initiative. We're going to explore how best to use these funds to meet our commitment of improving broadband access in all regions of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

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Media contact:
Diana Quinton
Director of Communications
Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development
709-729-4570, 631-8155
dianaquinton@gov.nl.ca 

2013 03 08             11:55 a.m.

 
 
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