The Strathcona Regional District is now offering community broadband plans online for seven communities.
It hosted broadband planning forums last June through its Community Broadband Plans (CBP) project, where Cortes Island, Gold River, Kyuquot, Quadra Island, Sayward, Tahsis and Zeballos were visited throughout a two-week block.
“Improved broadband connectivity for rural and remote communities has been a strategic priority of the SRD for several years,” says board chair Michele Babchuk. “There is a significant gap between broadband service levels and affordability in urban areas versus rural areas in British Columbia. In fact, many communities within the SRD do not meet basic service levels, if they have any service at all.”
The forums saw presentations from guest speakers and videos showcasing possibilities for a digital future in these communities.
Open discussions followed and the information gathered created a unique snapshot of the community’s digital readiness and aspirations.
This snapshot will now be provided to last-mile broadband infrastructure solution designers to develop a community-specific plan along with analysis of the community’s topography, climate, housing density and location of key institutions.
In this way, the infrastructure is informed by community aspirations amongst other important technical considerations.
The district’s CBP project is part of the Connected Coast project, which plans to bring new or improved high-speed internet accessibility to over 150 rural and remote coastal communities across B.C.
To view the SRD’s community broadband plans, click here.
