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Virden company to bring high speed internet, new opportunities to the North

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Manitoba” –Scott Andrew

It’s a good thing Virden’s Scott Andrew gets excited by “stuff that’s difficult” because he’s signed on for a huge project – delivering high speed internet to Northern Manitoba.  

The CEO of RFNOW, a Virden-based internet service provider, has partnered with Manitoba’s First Nations to launch a new ISP called Clear Sky Communications (CSC).

The multi-million-dollar project means more than 70 communities will gain access to the kind of high speed internet that residents in the south take for granted.

Slow satellite service

Online service in the north is currently accessed over satellite for the most part, which works for email but not for content-rich data that makes up the bulk of today’s web experience.

“If we still had 1992 content, dial up would work just fine,” says Andrew. “But content today is so much richer.

“Things like Skype, streaming video, even graphics take more bits and bytes. It can’t be rendered fast enough by satellite.”

Simply put, the signal’s trip to the satellite and back causes delays, slow-loading pages, and service that’s just slightly better than dial-up, according to Andrew.  

It’s hard to overstate how impactful the arrival of high speed could be in communities that, until now, had worse internet than Nunavut, says Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. Dumas is a key player in the First Nations partnership with RFNOW.

Hydro’s handout

Premier Brian Pallister, when announcing the province’s contribution to the project in mid-January, said having reliable broadband “is key to unlocking the potential of our remote northern communities.

“It will create economic opportunities for individuals, businesses and communities, and improve the health and quality of life of all residents across a vast region.”

The province’s contribution to the project is the use of Manitoba Hydro’s extensive fibre optic cable network across Manitoba, which will allow Clear Sky Communications to piggyback in select regions saving duplication of cable.

Andrew says, “For example, I can now get to The Pas using existing fibre thanks to Manitoba Hydro’s in-kind offer.”

The access to Hydro’s network has also opened up communities that weren’t even part of the original blueprint. CSC has now been able to add these towns to the project: Miniota, Birtle, Binscarth, Foxwarren, Hamiota, Shoal Lake, Rossburn, Waywayseecappo and possibly more to come.

From health to shopping

Sheila North, Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), was happy to learn about the initiative, saying she hopes it will improve delivery of services like health and education to northern First Nations.

Improved internet, she says, will also give northerners a gateway to Canada’s southern markets.

Online shopping is a tool that First Nation families are using to improve their quality of life. With greater access to the world’s economy and services, First Nations will have a better chance to address their own needs.”

Fibre optic experience

So how did a company from Virden get chosen by First Nations leaders to partner in such a monumental project?

Because they’ve done the work before, says Andrew. RFNOW has had 18 years to invent and perfect the processes while installing fibre optic cable throughout southwest Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan.

“That’s what got Arlen (Dumas) interested. There are companies doing this in cities but he needed somebody who’s done rural work. My team does this stuff every day.”

Jobs

Andrew says the project will create new jobs that could be “in Virden, The Pas, Winnipeg or anywhere in the world.”

Since most of the work will be installation and maintenance of the network, the service personnel will likely be from the communities to be served. “That’s how we make the project cost effective: training people in those places to do this kind of work.”

RFNOW and Custom Software Solutions (another Andrew family business) both employ technology workers around the world. It’s an example of what can be done in far-flung communities that have access to broadband.

“In 2001, we closed down our development shop in Saskatoon and came home (to Virden). We decided not to be physically bound to any one market or limited to one pool of people.

“We now have employees as far away as the Philippines and Sweden. Only 30 of our staff are here in Virden, 140 are remote workers doing all aspects of the business.”

Challenges

Although a date to start digging hasn’t been determined yet, Andrew says they hope to begin this spring and the network will likely take about three years to complete.

Of course, logistical challenges unique to the north have to be factored in: permafrost, ice roads, and broken rail lines being just a few of them.

But if Andrew is daunted by the scope of the project or the lay of the land, it doesn’t show. Only his words reveal his feelings on the matter.

“This project is exciting to me because of the ‘where’, because it’s in northern Manitoba. Nobody’s done this and that’s what makes it interesting. All that underserved population is going to get connected to something that we take for granted.” 

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