Rogers, Bell Aliant, Barrett Xplore stepping up broadband competition in New Brunswick

Rogers Communications Inc. is ramping up its broadband capacity in New Brunswick as competitors Bell Aliant and Barrett Xplore Inc. make their marks in the province. Rogers recently announced that it would boost its Hi-Speed Ultimate broadband service in Fredericton and Saint John from 50 Mbps to support speeds of up to 70 Mbps. The price is remaining at $100 per month, with room for 175 Gb of downloaded traffic. Upload speeds will remain at 2 Mbps, according to a Rogers release. Rogers was not available for comment, but according to a company release, the company plans to roll out the service to the rest of Atlantic Canada by mid-year. The company is using a DOCSIS 3.0 N wireless gateway to provide the service, distributing a wireless signal throughout customers’ homes for the connection of multiple computers. The DOCSIS networking protocol enables companies like Rogers to extend the functionality of their existing coaxial cable plants, said Iain Grant, a Montreal-based communications industry analyst at the SeaBoard Group. “DOCSIS 3 employs channel bonding to increase cable throughputs,” he said. In other words, the bonding technique allows cable companies to increase speeds without replacing their networks. “The former cable limit of about 30 Mbps has been blown—in Videotron’s and Shaw’s territories—and now in Rogers’ territory too,” he said. “The current theoretical limit”—that is, not practical—“for cable-based Internet speeds is about 300 Mbps.” Bell Aliant is on track to reach 145,000 New Brunswick residences with its FibreOP infrastructure by the middle of 2011. The network architecture brings fibre-optic connectivity directly to subscribers’ homes. Download speeds reach 60 Mbps and uploads 15 Mbps, the company said in a release. Kelly Duplisea, Bell Aliant’s vice-president of consumer solutions, said the service reaches Fredericton and the surrounding area, and Saint John partially. “We’re constantly increasing the number of homes,” she said. FibreOP supports Bell Aliant’s Internet and high-definition television service, she said. The company is also working on further integrating its communication offerings, with plans to migrate its phone service to the fibre-optic system. But there’s no word on whether the New Brunswick system will be mirrored in other Atlantic provinces. “All we have announced at this point is our plan for New Brunswick,” Duplisea said. Bell Aliant is using aerial fibre—cables hung from telephone poles—to provide the service. “This is far less expensive to install than buried fibre,” Grant said. “It is also, alas, more susceptible to ice, wind and other external outage causes. As Quebec learned 12 years ago, ice storms can be devastating to aerial services. It remains to be seen if the Aliant fibre will be able to resist Mother Nature for long.” Woodstock, NB-based wireless broadband service provider Barrett Xplore is planning new satellites to increase its network capacity. Chief strategy officer Allison Lenehan said the firm has secured space on ViaSat Inc.’s ViaSat 1 satellite, scheduled to launch in 2011. Barrett has also secured capacity on Hughes Network Systems LLC’s Jupiter satellite, scheduled to launch in 2012. By the end of 2012, Barrett will probably have capacity on five satellites operating in the Ka band, Lenehan said. Via satellite, the company plans to offer a 10 Mbps service for residential customers and a 25 Mbps service for business clients. “Many people still only have dial-up,” Lenehan said of rural areas, adding that Barrett will continue to invest in its networks to increase capacity. “We’re not done at 10 and 25 .” The company’s existing Ku-band service could also disappear. “We haven’t confirmed that yet,” Lenehan said. “There is overlap with the two new satellites ... Ku is fine, but the cost structure is very expensive.” The demand for Ku technology from satellite television providers make it costly. The service is better for one-way services such as broadcast than two-way services like Web connectivity. Grant said New Brunswick’s broadband activity stems from government leadership. “It started with the New Brunswick government offering incentives to upgrade broadband capabilities in the province, such that New Brunswick would be the first province to hit 100 per cent broadband ‘wired.’ Aliant rose to the challenge and offered a fibre-to-the-home solution,” Grant said. He added that Barrett Xplore worked with the government to implement a fixed-wireless broadband network (using terrestrial towers instead of satellites), serving about 40,000 homes. “The fight will be won by service levels, usage penalties, customer service and price-performance, not on raw speed,” Grant said of the competition in the province. “After about 50 Mbps, the added benefit of raw horsepower fades and the service provider’s other facets become more important. Are they pleasant to deal with? How often do they screw up billing? What is their attitude like? Am I being billed for everything I do, all these nickels, all these dimes?” news@thewirereport.ca

Rogers, Bell Aliant, Barrett Xplore stepping up broadband competition in New Brunswick

News | April 12, 2010

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