By now, many of you will have heard of the Connected Coast project, and have questions about its scope, goals, and impact. The LIAS Board of Directors has been in early-stage conversation with the project’s management, to help develop the best possible plan for how to serve Lasqueti’s population with a level of internet service previously only available in big cities, with the least amount of disruption to our current status quo. 

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The Connected Coast project is a joint partnership between CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District, which aims to establish high-speed fibre-optic internet along the B.C. coast from north of Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii, to the south of Vancouver Island. Cable deployment and infrastructure construction has been underway since September 2021, and they recently began to activate service in the first communities reached. The project partnership intends to be ready to connect to Lasqueti by Spring of 2024, with preparatory work on-island possibly beginning later this year.

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Part of the Connected Coast project’s mandate is to work with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and communities to allow for last-mile connections to the project’s subsea fibre-optic infrastructure, because the project provides ‘backbone’ infrastructure only, which for us is currently supplied by Telus. What this looks like for us is currently an open question.

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As an existing ISP, LIAS already has on-island infrastructure and the option of a hybrid system where LIAS towers are powered by fibre-optics is not out of the question. Our infrastructure could be utilized to broadcast that service instead of Telus, while possibly retaining the ability to continue using Telus services in the event of a Connected Coast system outage.

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The project is explicitly interested in bringing fibre-optic cable directly to residences on Lasqueti, which would dramatically increase high speed internet access coverage on our island. How that might be accomplished and what that might look like — such as whether the line would be buried or surface laid — will be a conversation, but you can rest assured that they have no illusions of erecting telephone poles. Given that the project has already installed infrastructure on Cortes, Haida Gwaii and along the coast to Bella Bella etc., they are well aware of the various possible challenges to local deployment and remain undeterred.

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Does this project cost LIAS money?

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No. Funding for the Connected Coast project comes from a combination of sources in the federal and provincial governments.

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Is this better service than what we currently get from LIAS?

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Yes. Currently, LIAS offers a single connection speed through Telus’s network, with pricing tiers based on data usage. CityWest’s current model is the opposite: unlimited data usage with pricing tiers based on connection speed. Again, it is early to say what exactly this might look like for us on Lasqueti, but the lowest speed package currently offered by CityWest is significantly faster than what we’re currently capable of offering through Telus.

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Will LIAS still provide the services we have now?

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Yes. LIAS currently offers subdomains at lasqueti.ca, web hosting, email addresses, and communication services through the mail list and on lasqueti.ca, and we have no intention of abandoning those services.

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Where else is this happening?

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The project intends to connect to approximately 140 remote communities; an interactive map is available at www.connectedcoast.ca/map. Additional information is available at www.connectedcoast.ca