Subject: Digital Divide recommendations from the Heartland Communities Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 22:51:04 ­070 From: "Matt Wenger" To: CC: [BCC-list] Premier Campbell, My name is Matt Wenger. I am the spokesperson for the BC3 (Broadband Community Champions Consortium) an organization that represents the vast majority of the communities in BC that are currently "unserved" by broadband. Backed extensively by local businesses, educators, health practitioners, government leaders, and community organizations, the BC3 members include over 45 large regional and community networks from Atlin to the Kootenays, from the Peace to Vancouver Island and the Central Coast. On August 6, 7 and 8 this year, we held a conference in Prince George. One of the key outcomes of the conference was a series of policy recommendations for the Province as it considers its strategy for bridging the "Digital Divide". I have attached the resulting document for your consideration and would welcome your comments. If we are truly going to achieve the economic and social vision we all share for the Province, ubiquitous access to this essential 21st century infrastructure is a must. I believe there is a win-win-win here for the people in the "Divides", the Province and the Private sector and that the solution could be achieved in relatively short order. BC3 members have access to significant capital through local and federal sources. The Province has a tremendous amount of leverage through its existing telecommnuications expenditures. Working together we could address this, as yet, unresolved Liberal campaign promise quickly and effectively. Working separately we are doomed to duplicated efforts, and ineffective and unsustainable solutions. Please peruse the attached document. I look forward to your comments and the opportunity to discuss how we, as local representatives, and the Province might best move forward together on this essential policy initiative. Best Regards, Matt Wenger Spokesperson, BC3 President, Columbia Mountain Open Network 250-365-9589 ================================== Provincial Policy and the Digital Divide Recommendations from the BC3 conference in Prince George August 8, 2003 The BC3 Representing over 45 community and large regional networks that span the majority of the Province, from Atlin to the Kootenays, from the Peace to Vancouver Island and the Central Coast, the Broadband Community Champions Consortium (The BC3) is a key stakeholder in the Provincial deliberations regarding the Digital Divide. BC3 members represent the vast majority of the communities that the Province deems as "unserved" as well as a large number of the currently "served" communities that have existing community networks. The Position of the BC3 The BC3 recommends the following for the Province's consideration: 1. General Approach That the Province utilize its full aggregate network spending to help leverage significantly improved connectivity to every community in BC and; That this network spending should be aggregated based on the broadest definition of a Provincial entity as possible (Eg: health regions, BC Hydro etc?) and; That in developing a strategy to leverage improved connectivity to communities the Province should work closely with the BC3 and its members as: + They represent the telecommunications interests of local leaders from multiple sectors including: business, health, education, and social organizations within the unserved communities of BC. + These champions have, through significant education and consultation campaigns, created the cross-sectoral awareness and community buy-in required for local investment in broadband infrastructure. + They will have access to considerable financial resources. The champions, as representatives of their local initiatives, will have access to federal funding through BRAND, the Strategic Infrastructure Fund, and the Softwood Industry Community Economic Adjustment Initiative (SICEAI) as well as significant local funding through Tribal, Municipal and Regional sources. + There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the divide. The most effective manner in which to bridge the divide is to ensure that the local stakeholders are empowered to deliver the solutions most appropriate for their communities and regions. This is best achieved through ongoing consultation with the local community champions on a community-by-community basis. In essence, in order to ensure a successful, sustainable solution to the digital divide the Province and the BC3 need to coordinate their efforts: * The Province has the financial leverage and political power to ensure connectivity gets driven out to each community's doorstep but does not have the financial or human resource capacity to bridge the last-mile. * The members of the BC3 have the local knowledge, commitment, support and financial wherewithal necessary to ensure that their residents, businesses and organizations get access to affordable broadband and the knowledge to use it to their benefit. They do not, however, have the capacity to build the electronic highway out to each region. 2. Tendering That the Province should tender separately for: + IX (Inter-Exchange) circuits. These are the circuits that take network traffic between communities. These should be tendered on a regional basis. These regional tenders should have, as part of their evaluation criteria, a requirement that the bidder demonstrate leverage of the contract to further regional economic and social development goals. + Local circuits. These are the circuits from the local Point of Presence (PoP) to the school, hospital, etc? There should be one tender process for each community that comprises all the local government business within that community. These local tenders should have, as part of their evaluation criteria, a requirement that the bidder demonstrate leverage of the contract to further local economic and social development goals. 3. Network Management The BC3 recommends that, should the Province choose to outsource network management, the Network Manager should be excluded from bidding to supply any IX or local circuits. This manager should be responsible for the creation and management of an Open Access PoP in every community. 4. Open Access PoPs Open PoPs should operate under the following policy directives: * Published "Postage Stamp" prices Province-wide. Prices for each 1Mbps of symmetrical transport to Vancouver or to any other location within the province should be the same at every PoP. * The network manager should be incented to reduce these prices over time * A connection between any two or more points within the Province should NOT incur a bandwidth usage fee or a distance charge. This would enable any Service Provider anywhere to get bandwidth at a flat rate to the Vancouver (or Prince George or Kamloops) Internet Exchange and then purchase Internet bandwidth in the most competitive markets in the province. An example of this is the Alberta Supernet project, which has a flat $50 per Mbps fee for connectivity and transport within the Province. 5. Policy Development and Contract Management That: As a great deal of the capital required to bridge the divide will be coming from the communities, and; As the community champions represent the telecommunications interests of key local stakeholders within the communities, and; As the service levels the communities receive from the IX circuits will have a significant impact on the ability of the communities to serve the needs of their residents, businesses and institutions and meet the social and economic goals of the community the community networks should have representation on any policy setting/ oversight body that is created as part of the solution to the digital divide 6. General Policy * The residents, businesses and community organizations that the BC3 represents want choice. In simple terms this means that they want the ability to choose and change their voice, video and data providers. Providing customers with choice means finding ways to encourage competition at the service level. The BC3 believes this must be an essential policy goal of any forthcoming initiative. Diagram demonstrating the recommended model: [i_html_82ea5bf] Agreed to on this date by: +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |First | | | | | | | |Name |Last Name |Organization |Community |Initiative |Email |Phone | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |John |Savage |Gold Trail Open Network |Ashcroft and the |www.gtnet.ca |jsavage@sd74.bc.ca |250-453-9211| | | | |entire Gold | | | | | | | |Country region | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Fran |Newall |Atlin Community Network |Atlin |Atlin Net |admin@atlin.net |250-651-7711| | | |www.atlin.net | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Linda |Myres |BCSA/bamfieldcommunity.com |Bamfield |CAP Champion/ |lmyres@bamfield.ca |250-728-1220| | | | | |Clayoquot | | | | | | | |Mamook | | | | | | | |Development | | | | | | | |BRAND project | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Keith |Hamilton |Heiltsuk Tribal Council |Bella Bella |Central Coast |khamilton@bellabella.net |250-957-2556| | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Project | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Karen |Laine |Bella Coola Valley Learning |Bella Coola |Central Coast |bcv_ls@yahoo.ca |250-799-5811| | | |Society | |Broadband/ | | | | | | | |Coast Connect | | | | | | | |Development | | | | | | | |Society | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Crystal |Kimber |Bridging the Canyon |Boston Bar/North |Building |kimcry@uniserve.com |604-867-9094| | | | |Bend |Bridges in a | | | | | | | |Learning | | | | | | | |Society | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |John |Kerr |Tatlayoko Think Tank Ltd. |Cariboo - |Cariboo |ttt@coyote.chilcotin.bc.ca |250-476-1187| | | |www.chilcotin.bc.ca/ttt |Chilcotin Region |Chilcotin | | | | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Lisa |Shaver |Penelakut Tribe |Chemainus |BC Community |Shaver@uniserve.com |250-246-2321| | | | | |Champions | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Frank |Mayhood |City of Kamloops |City of Kamloops |Kamloops |itmgr@kamloops.ca |250-828-FIBR| | | | | |Community | | | | | | | |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Matt |Wenger |CMON |The Columbia |CMON |mwenger@cbt.org |250-365-9589| | | | |Basin Region | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Stan |Boychuk |Clayoquot Biosphere Trust |Communities |Clayoquot |Stan.boychuk@clayoquotbiosphere.org|250-726-4715| | | | |within Clayoquot/|Sound ­ Mamook| | | | | | |Barkley Sounds |Broadband | | | | | | | |Project | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Michel |Labelle |City of Coquitlam http:// |Coquitlam |Intelligent |mlabelle@coquitlam.ca |604-927-3620| | | |www.coquitlam.ca | |Transportation| | | | | | | |System/ | | | | | | | |Community | | | | | | | |Fibre | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Sharon |Bennett |Communityfutures-strathcona.com|Courtenay/ |Strathcona |Sharon.bennett@crcn.net |250-334-2427| | | | |Campbell River |Broadband | |ext 228 | | | | | |Initiative | | | | | | | |BRAND phase | | | | | | | |one round 2 | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Don |Maki |Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal |East Kootenay |BRAND: Ktunaxa|dmaki@kktc.bc.ca |250-489-2464| | | |Council www.kktc.bc.ca |Region |Kinbasket | | | | | | | |Community | | | | | | | |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Renee |Bernier |Community Futures Dev Corp of |Grand Forks |BRAND |renee@boundarycf.com |250-442-2722| | | |Boundary Area | | | |250-442-8766| |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Bill |McQuarrie |Interior Science Innovation |Kamloops-Thompson|Thompson |bmcquarrie@isic.ca |250-828-1713| | | |Council www.isic.ca |Nicola Region |Nicola | | | | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Hans |DeBruyn |Okanagan Technology Consulting |Lower Similkameen|Similkameen |hans@okanagantechnology.com |250-766-1818| | | |Inc. www.okanagantechnology.com|Region |Valley | | | | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Project | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Chief |Sampson |Siska Band |Lytton | |siska@direcway.com |250-455-2219| |Fred | | | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Tom |Aird |Saulteau First Nations |Moberly Lake |Treaty 8 |Saulteau@telus.net |250-788-3955| | | | | |Initiative | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Royce |Schmidt |Village of Montrose |Montrose |Beaver Valley |Royce@glacierwind.com |250 367 9490| | | |www.village.montrose.bc.ca | |BRAND Working | | | | | | | |Group | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Charles |Peters |Lower Stl'atl'imx Tribal |Mount Currie |BRAND |cjjpeters@telus.net |604-894-0021| | | |Council | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Alistair|Skey |School District No. 10 |Nakusp |CMON |askey@sd10.bc.ca |250-265-3638| | | | | | | |ex 26 | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Gary |Patsey |Nisga'a Lisims Government |New Aiyansh |Nisga'a Lisims|Gary.patsey@nisgaa.net |1 866 633 | | | |www.nisgaalisims.ca | |Broadband | |0888 | | | | | |Project | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Gabe |Williams |Lower Stl'atl'imx Tribal |Pemberton |LSTC Broadband|tselxasqet@yahoo.com |604-894-0021| | | |Council | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Ron |Shongrunden |School District 67 |Penticton |Okanagan Skaha|rs@summer.com |250-770-7705| | | |www.SD67.BC.CA |Summerland |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Evelyn |Clark |Community Futures Dev Corp Mt. |Port McNeill and |Northern |evelyn@island.net |250-956-2220| | | |Waddington www.island.net/ |the North Island |Vancouver | | | | | |~futures/ |communities |Island | | | | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Initiative | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Bev |Collins |Powell River Community Network |Powell River |Powell River |bev@prcn.org |604-485-0041| | | |www.prreds.prcn.org | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Company | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Stephane|Labonne |City of Prince George |Prince George |PGTX and PG |slabonne@city.pg.bc.ca |250-561-7655| | | |www.city.pg.bc.ca | |Community | | | | | | | |Fibre Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Larry |Deacon-Rogers|Community Futures Dev Corp of |Prince Rupert |Broadband |RAIN@cfdc-pnw.com |250-622-2352| | | |Pacific NW | |Service to the| | | | | | | |Pac NW Region | | | | | | | |of BC | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Tamara |Smith |Slocan Valley Economic |Slocan Valley | |Tamarasmith@look.ca |250.226.0097| | | |Development Commission |Region | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Les |Deacon-Rogers|Onewayout.net Society |Stewart |Broadband |deaconrogers@mountainharbour.ca |250-636-2380| | | | | |Service to | | | | | | | |Stewart | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Vincent |Joseph | |Tachie | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Arvo |Koppel |Peace Region Internet Society |The Peace River |www.pris.ca |pris@pris.ca |250-782-5128| | | |(www.pris.ca) |Region | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Deborah |Page |Tl'azt'en Nation Education |Tl'azt'en Nation | |tlazteneducation@direcway.com |(w) | | | | | | | |250-648-3227| | | | | | | |(h) 996-5013| |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Lonnie |Nunweiler |www.valemount.org |Valemount |Canoe-Robson |lonnie@valemount.com |250-566-4199| | | | | |Valley | |566-4698 | | | | | |Broadband | | | | | | | |Network | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Steven |Chan |www.vcn.bc.ca |Vancouver |Vancouver |schan@vcn.bc.ca |604 408 9483| | | | | |Community Net | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Dan |Carberry |Community Futures Stuart |The Highway 16 |BC NW |cfdcsn@telus.net |250-567-5219| | | |Nechako onramp.hwy16.com/ |communities (NW |Broadband | | | | | |~cfdcsn/ |Region) |Committee | | | | | | | |BCNBC | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Gareth |Shearman |Vancouver Island Open Network |South Island and |South Island |shearman@victoria.tc.ca |250-479-2851| | | |victoria.tc.ca/vion |the Gulf Islands |Open Networks | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Phillip |Djwa |First Nations SchoolNet |First Nations |First Nations |phillip@fnesc.ca |604-925-6087| | | |www.fnesc.ca |SchoolNet |SchoolNet | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Elaine |Bottineau |West Moberly First Nations |West Moberly | |ebottineau@westmo.org |250-788-3663| |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| |Grand |John |First Nations Summit | |First Nations |cbraker@fns.bc.ca |(604) | |Chief | |www.fns.bc.ca | |Technology | |990-9939 | |Edward | | | |Council | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| | | | | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| | | | | | | | | |--------+-------------+-------------------------------+-----------------+--------------+-----------------------------------+------------| | | | | | | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+