Annapolis County Moves to Improve Internet Capacity

December 20, 2016

Annapolis County Moves to Improve Internet Capacity

(ANNAPOLIS COUNTY, NS) There is good news over the cyber horizon for residents of the Municipality of the County of Annapolis.

The Municipality has entered into an agreement with Mainland Telecom to negotiate a plan to design and build an open access back bone fibre within the County boundaries.

"Residents of Annapolis County told us clearly at our public consultations that internet connectivity throughout the county was necessary if our communities and businesses were to prosper, and the Municipality listened," said Annapolis County Warden Timothy Habinski.

"We made this issue the first priority of our Economic Development Strategy, and I am delighted that we are now in a position to act," Habinski stated. "Backbone fibre is critical for improving our capacity, and making it possible to reach under served communities and residents."

The County of Annapolis acted on an expression of Interest released in November of 2015, which received several worthy responses.

The negotiation process will begin immediately and it is the intention of the County of Annapolis to create infrastructure that has the ability to connect to other municipalities if the opportunity presents itself.

“This is the first step," Warden Habinski declared.

Headquartered in the Annapolis Valley, Mainland Telecom is an independent full service ISP with its own autonomous system and redundant data centers, able to offer innovative voice data and internet solutions that deliver high quality connections even in remote areas.

“Mainland Telecom is very much looking forward to this opportunity to work with the Municipality of Annapolis to build a network that will bring big city connectivity to a rural area ripe for economic regeneration’ said Chris J. Norman, Chief Technology Officer, Mainland Telecom.

“The Municipality has the courage to take a leadership stance and work for a long term solution which Mainland is proud to be a part of”, Norman added.

An internet backbone is a very high-speed data transmission line that provides networking facilities to high-speed Internet service providers and often to educational and government bodies. Backbone fibre is key infrastructure required to support long-term last mile solutions. This high-capacity backbone fibre will be superior in capacity, scope and forward-compatibility to past efforts to connect Annapolis County residents.

In addition to private capital from Mainland Telecom, the County intends use its own resources while also seeking funds from the new federal Connect to Innovate broadband infrastructure program.

The ultimate long-term solution is to extend fibre connection to every home and business in Annapolis County. However, the County is aware of the real need to address the lack of internet service in outlying communities in the shorter term as well.

For this reason, the County and Mainland Telecom also intend to support NCS Network's important efforts to create last mile wireless internet solutions to remote areas through an application to the Municipal and Community Rural High Speed Internet Funding, a one-time program which provides funding up to $75,000.00 from the province of Nova Scotia.

NCS Network, an independent wireless Internet service provider, is an End-to-End ICT solutions company specializing in best of breed last mile wireless solutions.

The Municipality will be keeping residents and businesses up to date as the projects progress.

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For Additional Information contact:

John Ferguson
Chief Administrative Officer
Municipality of the County of Annapolis
902-526-0478
Contact: Click Here