Georgina
September 24, 2008 07:44 PM
By: John Slykhuis
Thanks to the presence of South Shore Community Broadband, Georgina Trades and Training in Sutton could become a host campus for the E-Learning Network, council was told.
“That is very significant,” broadband board member Bruce Etherington said, adding the network comes with a substantial grant.
Funded by the Ontario government, E-Learning works in partnership with 18 colleges and 14 universities and provides more than 7,500 courses online.
This enables students to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees from universities that participate, as well as diplomas and certificates from colleges.
Georgina Trades Training Inc. can only be selected if it has broadband, Mr Etherington said.
The school uses broadband for conducting business and hosting the Learning Centre of Georgina at its Sutton campus.
In future, broadband will be used to provide audio-video conferencing with post secondary institutions and provide training and technical support for students taking courses at home.
Students who don’t have a broadband connection, will be able to use the in-house computer centre at the Sutton campus.
Council heard the new information during an update on the progress of the broadband group.
That service is now available to most of the rural areas of Georgina that only had dial-up before, General manager Margaret Hyvarinen said.
Earlier this year, the province provided the town with a grant of $796,000 for the broadband network in partnership with the broadband network, a non-profit consortium.
The grant was part of Rural Connections — The Ontario Municipal Rural Broadband Partnership Program, a $10-million initiative created by the province to help bring rural communities in southern Ontario into the broadband age.
There are 237 customers subscribing to the service, 195 residences and 42 businesses, including some of Georgina’s largest employers such as The Briars Resort, Canadian Tire and the town.
There are 60 more future users on the waiting list, council was told.
The network has assets of about $1.5 million.
It has also faced some other challenges including a lightning strike to a transmission tower this summer that did more than $25,000 damage, Ms Hyvarinen said.
Mayor Rob Grossi expressed surprise that much of the more populated areas of town such as Keswick and Willow Beach still aren’t being serviced.
“I thought we’d have full coverage by now,” he said.
It is the intent of SSCB to cover the entire town, but the first priority was to service the rural areas first, as mandated by the provincial grant program, Mr. Etherington said.
Councillor Ross Jamieson felt disappointed the coverage wasn’t greater and more people hadn’t subscribed.
The company faces a “substantial technological problem” along The Queensway corridor in Keswick and future expansion will hinge on funding, although the town won’t be asked for more money, Ms Hyvarinen said.
“We’re not finished with this yet,” she said.
For more information on the South Shore Community Broadband network, visit the www.communitybroadband.ca