The Town of High Prairie will have to wait if it wants to provide more high-speed internet access to residents and businesses.
Council learned at a recent meeting that the town is waiting to hear from the Alberta Government on a provincial broadband strategy.
“We have been working on this for over two years now,” says Mayor, Brian Panasiuk. “We actually thought we would get some fibre in the ground this past spring, but with the changes in the provincial government and some of the funding that is available, we haven’t been able to proceed.”
Panasiuk feels governments can play a role in bringing high-speed internet to rural communities.
“The companies like Telus and Shaw are not coming to our region because they can get a bigger bang for their buck in larger municipalities,” explains Panasiuk. “We have to step up and do it ourselves and we are hoping for more government support to be able to do that.”
The initiative to increase broadband access for the community is a joint effort between the Town of High Prairie and Big Lakes County.
The town is hopeful it can start a partial pilot project next year.
– Kenny Trenton, Trending 55 Newsroom
