By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Rogers Corporation is set to become the second major telecommunications company to lay down a fibre-to-the-home network in Haldimand County, following in the footsteps of Xplornet which is already well into its expansion locally.
The project will see 1,234km of new fibre cable and includes 8,055 rural homes and businesses. Most of the new lines will be buried underground.
Rogers representative Nicholas Ball spoke to Council recently and called the fibre technology “leading edge,” with increased speed and reliability, and less of a physical imprint through ‘street furniture’.
Robin House looks after design and build projects throughout Ontario for Rogers. He commented on what brought the telecom giant to Haldimand: “There’s a pretty big initiative going on through the provincial and federal governments to bring as much fibre to the rural areas as they can.”
He said that Rogers’ plan is to have the project completed by 2025, adding, “We’ve already started on the design phase. We’ve taken a look at the landscape out here, and we know where we’ll be building.”
House said the goal is to have a detailed design plan submitted to the County by late October, with construction set to begin once approved: “There will be two aspects. The community side where we’re building up and down the streets, which will be permit driven. We also have a private property aspect of this, bringing it into people’s homes. That will involve homeowners and will be on a consent basis.”
Customer installs will begin in January of next year, with House saying that the initial locations for installations will be based on where the company receives the largest number of consents from homeowners.
Ensuring a timely roll out and construction process requires a good working relationship with the County: “We want to work with you in conjunction with any other plans you may have for the next few years, overlay that onto our plans, and make sure we’re not in conflict anywhere.”
House said Rogers would be “more than open” to providing resources needed to get the project rolling, including reviewing designs or providing in-field representation.
Councillor Rob Shirton called Rogers “about 18 months behind,” referring to Xplornet’s large headstart in the area: “Rogers is a big company. I assume you know what your competition is doing? Are you 100% committed to this project in Haldimand?”
“Oh yes,” replied House. “The government doesn’t restrict services to one vendor…. There will be no back outs.”
Councillor John Metcalfe mentioned some of the difficulties Xplornet has had installing their fibre network in some of the county’s more inaccessible areas.
House replied, “We’ll be working with your planning department. If there are any tougher areas, we’ll be looking at that up front to make a plan.”
Rogers is set to provide further information to residents of Haldimand on when the project will be coming to their area and what they can expect in terms of the work done on their property.
“This build is to bring service to people who don’t have service,” concluded House.
