City of Ottawa Update On Completing Broadband Coverage In Rural Ottawa

Things have been somewhat quiet on the rural high-speed front lately... and/or I've been a little busier than usual. In any case, someone at the City of Ottawa's Rural Affairs Office noticed my earlier posting on the City's rural broadband report, and provided the following additional info (which I've taken my sweet time in posting below):

City Council have directed staff to move forward with a "public-private partnership" (P3) to ensure broadband access in 100% of rural Ottawa, as per the council minutes posted on the blog.

It is believed that the current 60% coverage in the rural areas is all that will occur if the market is left to its own devices, since most villages and other areas of concentrated population now have broadband - it is mostly areas that don't have significant concentrations of dwellings that are un-served or underserved.

The City has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) asking for submissions from private providers on plans to ensure 100% coverage as per above.

The City will provide financial incentives to assist with infrastructure costs to make the start up financially worthwhile. Respondents to the RFP will be scored on the amount of assistance they request (i.e. the lower the better), and various other subjective variables. The RFP will be technology neutral.

The Request for Proposal is currently on MERX (government tender site) at the following location. Note: to see the actual RFP document, it must be ordered from MERX for a fee.

The City hopes to have a partner selected, contract signed, and approval from Council to proceed in March. There will also be a marketing plan to ensure citizens are aware of the initiative and know how to take advantage of the service as well as consultations with rural stakeholders to ensure we are on the right track.

The private partner will operate the service going forward - the city's involvement will be to provide assistance with the start-up costs and to monitor and ensure the provider is fulfilling their obligations. There will be performance measurements in the agreement to ensure success.

The goal is to have affordable broadband service available in all rural parts of the city of Ottawa by Q4 2007, subject to negotiations with the partner.

For further information, citizens can contact the Rural Affairs Office at the City of Ottawa at RuralAffairs@ottawa.ca