Profile: The City of Brooks

To attract new businesses and homebuyers โ€” and improve internet speeds for current residents โ€” the City of Brooks has begun construction on a next-generation fibre optic network, utilizing an open-access, co-ownership model.

Slow speeds slow down growth

Information from the Canadian Internet Registration Association (CIRA) shows that approximately 72% of Brooksโ€™ residents are currently only able to achieve download speeds of under 20 Megabits per second (Mbps), far less than the minimum download speed of 50 Mbps recommended by the CRTC for basic internet needs in Canada. 

These low speeds can be deal-breakers for businesses looking to set up operations in the region. โ€œOur economic development team was approached by a business with high bandwidth requirements,โ€ says Alan Martens, CAO for the City of Brooks. โ€œOnce they heard about our internet capabilities, those conversations were over.โ€

Low speeds can also deter potential homebuyers who are looking to escape the city and work remotely. โ€œCovid has taught people that they can work from anywhere. They donโ€™t need to live in big cities and pay large amounts for rent or housing. We want to bring these people to our community,โ€ says Martens. But if remote workers canโ€™t get the connectivity they need, theyโ€™re unlikely to relocate to low-cost areas like Brooks. 

It is therefore unsurprising that Brookโ€™s economic development team, following a study conducted during the pandemic, concluded that developing a high-speed broadband network in the municipality would better position it for future economic growth.

Barriers to high speed broadband in rural communities

Large telecom companies are often unwilling to upgrade their services in rural municipalities because the small populations promise equally small profits. โ€œWe have large incumbents โ€” Telus and Shaw โ€” but of course, theyโ€™re profit driven, so they have to work in large communities, where they can generate profits,โ€ says Martens.  โ€œWeโ€™re down on their [priority] list.โ€

Unable to rely on internet incumbents, but still in need of faster services, the City began working with nearby municipalities to make use of a dark fibre ring in southeast Alberta. (โ€œDark fibreโ€ refers to unused optical fibre that is already in the ground). This ring would connect Brooks to Calgaryโ€™s internet transit through Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. 

However, one of Brookโ€™s incumbents, Shaw, had already installed a fibre optic cable between Brooks and Calgary. Network managers in the City soon found that โ€œlightingโ€ the dark fibre ring would be more expensive than leasing Shawโ€™s cable, and decided on the cheaper option. 

Shawโ€™s cable functions as BrooksNETโ€™s โ€œbackbone.โ€ It transfers data between Calgary and an endpoint located in the Brooks area, but not into community membersโ€™ homes and businesses. To accomplish the latter task, the City needed to construct both a โ€œfeederโ€ network and a โ€œdistributionโ€ network. 

The feeder network would move data from the backbone networkโ€™s endpoint to the different parts of the city. The distribution network would then move data from the feeder network into customersโ€™ properties.

Unfortunately, estimates to build these networks were millions of additional dollars. 

Cost was becoming a major impediment to the fibre build. While the City had received some funding from the Canada Community Building Fund, it was not eligible to receive funding from the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), which was created to support high speed internet builds in remote and rural communities across Canada. 

The reason for its ineligibility was the fact that some residents (though the minority) were able to achieve internet speeds of 50 Mbps download / 10 Mbps upload.

Limited by its budgetary constraints, the City sent out a request for proposals. 

Co-owned, open-access fibre 

The City eventually accepted a proposal for a fibre build based on a co-ownership model. The new network consortium includes an engineering firm, an initial Internet Service Provider (ISP), and, most importantly, a funding partner, Crown Capital. โ€œThe price of the project is around $20 million, and without the funding partner, it would have never moved forward,โ€ says Martens. 

The feeder network will be paid for and owned by the City, and will cost approximately $5.4 million. The more expensive distribution network will be paid for and owned by Crown Capital, and will cost approximately $15 million.

Scheduled to be completed next year, BrooksNET will be constructed entirely of fibre optic cable, and will be capable of providing internet speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to users. 

It will also be an open-access network. Similar to how any transport company can access the cityโ€™s road system to deliver goods to local businesses, any ISP will be able to use BrooksNET to provide customers with internet services.

โ€œFibre gives us more opportunities down the road than wireless, and open access attracts more competition,โ€ says Martens. โ€œTelus and Shaw havenโ€™t approached us yet, but weโ€™d sure welcome them.โ€

The roadways of tomorrow

According to Martens, BrooksNET isnโ€™t a luxury service for local residents. While a high-speed broadband network might seem expensive and excessive in the present, he believes this infrastructure will be necessary for the city to compete in tomorrowโ€™s economy. 

โ€œWhy would you need roads at the turn of the century, when people were using horses and buggies to get around? Past municipal governments probably struggled to make these types of future-oriented infrastructure decisions too,โ€ says Martens. โ€œEveryone should have access to clean and adequate drinking water. Everyone should have access to adequate health care. These are essential services.โ€

โ€œWe shouldnโ€™t have second class citizens in Canada, which means everyone should have access to quality internet as well.โ€ 

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