CONNECT - FIBRE CUTTING CEREMONY
June 19 2024
Fibre Cutting Ceremony Celebrates High-Speed Broadband Partnership for Rural Central Alberta
(Central Alberta) – An innovative new partnership is bringing open-access, community-owned, high-speed broadband to serve rural communities. Connect is a municipally-controlled corporation (MCC) being formed with Rural Connect Ltd., and founding member communities Red Deer County, the County of Paintearth, and the Village of Delburne, that will deliver and oversee the operation of broadband infrastructure throughout these member municipalities.
Connect’s vision is for a future in which all rural Alberta residents, businesses, and communities have open access to a community-owned, reliable, high-speed broadband network. This service provides opportunities for online learning, telehealth, and social connection for those who may be isolated. It also enables innovation in agriculture technology, manufacturing, and digital commerce, and provides solutions to issues affecting rural communities such as networked security systems that can help residents and businesses combat rural crime.
Existing infrastructure assets from these counties and communities will be centralized under Connect, as will the responsibility of overseeing the operation of broadband infrastructure, and continued construction and expansion of the network. The open-access network will offer internet services to residents, businesses, and industrial users through competitive retail service providers, helping to ensure access is affordable and that consumers have choice and variety in their services.
Connect’s innovative business model maintains community ownership and governance of the infrastructure and services, while providing the quality and speed of service that rural residents and businesses need to thrive and compete in our modern, digital economy and society.
“The foundation of Connect is the belief that access to reliable, high-speed broadband service is as essential a service as any other utility, and residents in rural communities deserve to have the same access and quality of service as those in urban areas. We’re stronger together, and I’m pleased to work with our innovative municipal partners in Red Deer County, Paintearth, and Delburne to bring these services to rural Albertans. We’re looking forward to continuing conversations with other municipalities and to seeing Connect bring affordable, high-speed broadband services to communities across Alberta.” – Connect CEO, Andy Metzger
Join Connect and our municipal partners from Red Deer County, County of Paintearth, and the Village of Delburne for a Fibre Cutting Ceremony to celebrate this innovative collaboration. Please see the attached invitation for details and RSVP.
