Canada’s rural Ontario suburb says internet is not keeping up with demands

According to an internet survey conducted by Chatham Kent’s Economic Development Services in Ontario, Canada there is a strong and an urgent need for high speed internet in the agricultural sectors. As such the municipality is putting out an Request for Proposal’s out to the private sector to find solutions.

The internet survey, which was designed to discover the specific organizations that want or need internet, was concluded on the 19th of July, 2018. The marketing and communications officer of Economic Development Services, Andrew Tompsett, mentioned that more than thirty responses were received from business organizations in the survey within the first few hours of launching it online.

Horizon Communications, using long range fixed wireless equipment, can easily cover places such as Chatam Kent, which is a large suburan and rural area that is not economical to cover using coax or fiber landlines. With speeds approaching 300mbps on today's technology and 1gbps coming in the future, fixed wireless will most certainly be the way these communities are serviced.

According to Tompsett, the feedback on the survey has really been positive. He stated that the organization has received responses from many businesses from all over Chatham — Kent which has shed more lights on why fiber should be situated within their area and what this will mean to these businesses. Tompsett says it is a great opportunity to reach out to many communities that are currently under serviced.

Tompsett went further to elaborate on the survey, saying ‘it is our understanding that there are already existing fiber locations in Chatham Kent but this survey is looking at some other areas that are not currently serviced or that could be serviced’.

Although high speed internet is now being installed in certain parts of Chatham during this summer, Tompsett mentioned that it was a surprise to discover that some businesses within the location are still on dial-up. It is not very clear, whether the usage of dial-up by these businesses is by choice or out of necessity as the survey did not explain this, but it is definitely interesting to find out about this in the survey, he said. He went further to add that he was amazed to see that the agricultural sectors are also in dire need of high speed internet.

“You do not traditionally think of agriculture as requiring high speed internet, but when you start looking into and talking to these manufacturers and businesses, you realize that they also have a strong need for this type of access, for all of their different business reasons” Tompsett elaborated.

Tompett also mentioned that high speed internet has always been something that is being discussed at events like the TeCK Night Chatham Kent. TeCK Night is an event that was organized for the second time at Sons of Kent Brewing Co. on Wednesday 18th of July. The event was themed ‘artificial intelligence in traditional business’ and it was hosted by Small Business Centre Chatham Kent, Scribendi, Invest CK, and WEtech Alliance.

According to Geoff Wright of Chatham Kent’s Economic Development Services, ‘Technology is all around us and this event is coordinating that same technology. We are inviting all kinds of different people from different business sectors to come out and talk about technology and their sector’.

Without high speed internet services however, bringing technology and innovation to the region will be quite tough, hence Chatham Kent leading the charge to find solutions to the area.

Gilbert A Darrell is the Founder of Horizon. He has 18 years experience in information technology and telecom solutions, a veteran in Fire and EMS Services, a crypto enthusiast and a member of the Bermuda Government’s Cryptocurrency Task Force.

Horizon Communications is an upcoming fixed wireless internet and cellular service provider looking to provide services in Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Central America before expanding internationally. While utilizing 4th generation and soon 5th generation wireless technology,it will also heavily incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.

More information can be found on their website — www.HorizonComm.co