Officials from Bell Aliant say they have met their contractual obligation for Internet service in P.E.I. and if Islanders want better access to higher speed Internet, government will have to pitch in.
Kevin Fournier, director of sales for Nova Scotia and P.E.I. and Mark Duggan, senior manager of communications for Bell Aliant, appeared before the legislative Standing Committee on Education and Economic Development Thursday.
They were called to testify about the company’s controversial contract with government to provide province-wide Internet service in exchange for a deal that gave the government’s telephone services contract exclusively to Bell Aliant.
The 2008 contract has been the focus of criticism because it was awarded to Bell Aliant without public tender and promised to provide high-speed Internet to all areas of the province by 2010, yet many Islanders remain without reliable service.
Fournier explained Thursday the contract only required Bell Aliant to provide Internet speed of “up to 1.5” megabits per second (Mbps), which he says is the standard DSL service level.
Currently, 99.8 per cent of the province has access to at least this base level of service and the remaining 0.2 per cent of Islanders are serviced by MiFi wireless routers, Duggan explained.
“Obviously we recognize that 1.5 doesn’t meet (some) particular needs, but for a lot of our customers, it does,” Duggan said.
“It’s our standard, introductory level speed, not just here in P.E.I., but across Atlantic Canada. For a lot of customers, it meets their needs.”
A number of the MLAs on the committee raised concern over this speed level, explaining it is not adequate for many Island residents and business owners, especially in rural areas of the province.
But Fournier says there are no current plans to expand Bell Aliant’s faster Internet services.
“We’re at that point now where we don’t see any other new locations as economically viable to service with the new technologies like the fibre op. That would be millions and millions of dollars again to make that investment and there’s simply not a return on that,” Fournier told the committee.
“We are here to make a profit.”
Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker pointed out the CRTC targets for Internet speeds in Canada for 2015 were 5 Mbps while in the United States, the minimum is 24 Mbps and in Europe it is 30.
“1.5 pales beside that,” Bevan-Baker said.
Duggan says those levels would only be possible if government is willing to “partner” with the company on costs.
“Achieving 5 megabits everywhere or greater speeds will really come down to partnerships with governments,” he said.
Bell Aliant successfully negotiated several extensions to its contract with the P.E.I. government, which have locked in its exclusive provincial telephone contract until 2020.
MLAs asked Fournier and Duggan several times how much money Bell Aliant makes from this lucrative taxpayer-funded contract, but they both refused to answer, saying it is “competitively sensitive information.”
Opposition MLA Matthew MacKay says Islanders have a right to know this information.
“It’s taxpayers’ money,” he said.
“Islanders were told that all Islanders would have high speed Internet, the service hasn’t been provided, it was part of the original deal right from day one, so I do think it needs to be disclosed.”
Twitter.com/GuardianTeresa
Officials from Bell Aliant say they have met their contractual obligation for Internet service in P.E.I. and if Islanders want better access to higher speed Internet, government will have to pitch in.
Kevin Fournier, director of sales for Nova Scotia and P.E.I. and Mark Duggan, senior manager of communications for Bell Aliant, appeared before the legislative Standing Committee on Education and Economic Development Thursday.
They were called to testify about the company’s controversial contract with government to provide province-wide Internet service in exchange for a deal that gave the government’s telephone services contract exclusively to Bell Aliant.
The 2008 contract has been the focus of criticism because it was awarded to Bell Aliant without public tender and promised to provide high-speed Internet to all areas of the province by 2010, yet many Islanders remain without reliable service.
Fournier explained Thursday the contract only required Bell Aliant to provide Internet speed of “up to 1.5” megabits per second (Mbps), which he says is the standard DSL service level.
Currently, 99.8 per cent of the province has access to at least this base level of service and the remaining 0.2 per cent of Islanders are serviced by MiFi wireless routers, Duggan explained.
“Obviously we recognize that 1.5 doesn’t meet (some) particular needs, but for a lot of our customers, it does,” Duggan said.
“It’s our standard, introductory level speed, not just here in P.E.I., but across Atlantic Canada. For a lot of customers, it meets their needs.”
A number of the MLAs on the committee raised concern over this speed level, explaining it is not adequate for many Island residents and business owners, especially in rural areas of the province.
But Fournier says there are no current plans to expand Bell Aliant’s faster Internet services.
“We’re at that point now where we don’t see any other new locations as economically viable to service with the new technologies like the fibre op. That would be millions and millions of dollars again to make that investment and there’s simply not a return on that,” Fournier told the committee.
“We are here to make a profit.”
Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker pointed out the CRTC targets for Internet speeds in Canada for 2015 were 5 Mbps while in the United States, the minimum is 24 Mbps and in Europe it is 30.
“1.5 pales beside that,” Bevan-Baker said.
Duggan says those levels would only be possible if government is willing to “partner” with the company on costs.
“Achieving 5 megabits everywhere or greater speeds will really come down to partnerships with governments,” he said.
Bell Aliant successfully negotiated several extensions to its contract with the P.E.I. government, which have locked in its exclusive provincial telephone contract until 2020.
MLAs asked Fournier and Duggan several times how much money Bell Aliant makes from this lucrative taxpayer-funded contract, but they both refused to answer, saying it is “competitively sensitive information.”
Opposition MLA Matthew MacKay says Islanders have a right to know this information.
“It’s taxpayers’ money,” he said.
“Islanders were told that all Islanders would have high speed Internet, the service hasn’t been provided, it was part of the original deal right from day one, so I do think it needs to be disclosed.”
Twitter.com/GuardianTeresa
