Lake of Bays is one step closer to expanding broadband internet access in the township.
Township and district officials met with local internet service provider (ISP) Algonquin Fiber to discuss the challenges of bringing high-speed internet to rural Muskoka. The meeting was held at North and South Portage Rd., the site of a fiber expansion by the ISP.
The cable installation was originally scheduled to finish around June. However, Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover says the company ran into issues around topography and road work permits, and will likely have to wait until the frost clears next year to finish the work.
Glover says issues like these make it all the more important that companies have a “made-in-Muskoka plan” to work with.
“The biggest issue is that Muskoka is all rock, and trees, and mounds. The problem is there’s a lot of places where there is very little side to the road to go on,” says Glover. “Some places there aren’t even existing ditches, so when district goes in to do construction, they don’t want to be carrying up fiber. It makes it quite difficult and very, very expensive for an IT provider to run fiber on poles, so they have to go through the ground.”
Earlier this year, the district received a number of recommendations from a consultant on how to effectively expand broadband access in Muskoka. One item was to create the role of Broadband Coordinator, to serve as the point of contact between ISPs and municipal governments, which Glover says has since been filled.
“Hopefully, we’re going to be working out all the kinks,” says Glover. “So that when IT providers of any sort come to us and want to run fiber, we have a plan that will work well in the township, and likely will be used for the whole district.”
He adds that he hopes to organize a district-wide meeting similar to the one in his township in the near future.