Building high-speed internet across rural Alberta would reap big returns: study

Connecting rural Albertan communitiesto high-speed internet not only has a selection of benefits, but payback revenue according to a new study.

Thestudy led by the SouthGrow Regional Initiative, an economic development alliancethat represents 26 southern Alberta communities, weighed the costs and benefitsto high speed connections for rural communities.

After partneringwith the province as wellas Indigenous communitiesand the University of Lethbridge, the organizationdetermined that investing in high-speed internet for these municipalitiescould pay back$3.5 for every dollar spent.

Kien Tran, lead researcher and economics professor at the U of L, says that besides the payback, other benefits include consumers saving as well asimproved farm income, business revenue and education.

"Even with the most expensive scenario we got a return of about $2.97 for every dollar we invested."

'Take it for granted'

Jim Willett, chair of the SouthGrow Regional Initiative as well as the mayor of the town Coutts, says reliable, fast internet access is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for businesses to stay competitive.

"I think we sometimes take for granted that everybody just has high speed Internet and that you can connect instantly. It's a hodgepodge. Once you get out of the cities and into the rural areas, it will vary," said Willett.

He explains thatmost of the communities in rural Alberta areunder served for high-speed broadband networks.

It impacts the whole economy of the province.- Jim Willett

"You get into a lot of communities and they don't have cell phone coverage,nevermind having any kind of internet," he said.

"It's not a large percentage of the population, butit is a large percentage of the province."

In some communities, high-speed coverage is so hard to come by, towns are struggling to survive because of the lack ofbusinesses.

"It's more a situation of people moving on and they're not being able to attract anybody else to come in," said Willett.

"It impacts the whole economy of the province."

Impact on farmers

Willett says the town of Coutts has high-speed internet, but that it varies in the surrounding farmland.

"They're wanting to use the latest technologies and they don't have access to those technologies. So it's holding back the development of the farming and you're not able to operate as efficiently asyou want to," he said.

After receiving the results from the study, Willett and the rest of the alliance haveplans to give suggestions to each municipalitythey represent so they too can receive broadband networks.

Willett says they've also sent their data to Service Alberta and are hopeful to see adetermined investment in getting this project done.

"We've given thenumbers to them so they at least have something firm to build on," he said.