GUYSBOROUGH – Over the past few months, Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) residents have seen a lot of work happening along highways and rural roads, from tree clearance to the erection of cables on power poles – but what is it all for?
The answer is high-speed, fibre Internet.
The promise of fibre Internet has been the talk of successive election campaigns and on the drawing board long enough for the organization originally in charge of the project – Develop Nova Scotia – to disappear in an amalgamation measure, which created the Crown entity overseeing the project, Build Nova Scotia. The speed of progress this spring in the MODG indicates that the dream of many rural Internet users – which is almost every household – will soon be a reality: fast, reliable Internet.
“The Guysborough project is quite large and will reach approximately 2,500 homes and businesses,” Kelly Rose, a communications manager with Build Nova Scotia, told The Journal in an email earlier this month. “The overall project is anticipated to be complete in October/November this year. Access is often available to individual addresses before the overall project area is complete. Bell expects locations to start getting access by July this year.”
Work includes tree trimming, pole replacement and other prep work to ready the infrastructure for the fibre cables.
Asked about the lines crews were seen attaching to poles recently, Rose stated, “The line residents are seeing is most likely the wire strand that is strung between the poles. The fibre optic cable is attached to that wire strand. Once the physical fibre is installed, Bell will complete the back-office commissioning tasks and then it will be ready for sales.”
Cost for the service, once installation is complete, is the standard one listed on Bell’s website.
According to the Build Nova Scotia website, “As projects are complete or nearing completion, Bell has indicated they plan to reach out to customers by phone, door knockers and door-to-door (COVID permitting) as that is available. Local retailers will also share information once they know locations covered.”
For more information on the Internet initiative, visit: https://internet.buildns.ca.
