Here we go again, the city is poking its nose where it doesn't belong, and when the experts punch the city in the nose by telling them that their idea is not a good one, the city for some reason just can't remove its nose and take no for an answer. It shoves the nose in even further, so much so that the taxpayers start to feel the punch.
The Citizen reported on Monday that the city is taking the "next steps in developing a fibre optic network to provide ultra-high-speed Internet service to businesses in the downtown, Carter Light Industrial Area and future airport logistics park," even though a representative of Stantec (the company hired to provide a preliminary business case for building and operating the proposed $3 to 5 million network) told the city such a network could take 22 or more years to turn a profit for the city.
Stantec engineer Enzo D'Agostini said the most successful model used in other communities is that the city would build the network and charge for access to it. Businesses and existing Internet providers would pay for access to use the network.
But D'Agostini said, "We're looking at an access cost of $500 a month. That's a price point where a lot of small businesses are going to have a hard time justifying the step up."
When you consider Shaw advertises high-speed business Internet for $56.95 a month, or business Internet extreme for $79.95, the cost of the fibre optic service when taxes are figured in could be a 1,000 per cent increase.
Now, what business owner in his right mind is going to say to himself: "This fibre optic thing is really the way to go. I get my information now instead of in 30 seconds and it only costs me 10 times what I was paying before."
D'Agostini said Prince George is not the only city that's considering this. There are a lot (of other cities) that have done this, and a lot of them that have failed.
There are a lot of stories on these pages to do with our fair city and council, and it does not appear that any of these stories have been about a hew and cry because there is no fibre optic network in the downtown the Carter Light Industrial Area or the future airport logistics park for that matter.
However, there are numerous stories and letters to the editor about other things (potholes, ever-increasing city taxes) that seem to be of more importance to the taxpayers than a fibre optic network with potentially few customers, which would cost a lot of money to access, never mind the initial cost to the taxpayers to build and maintain it.
But then we can just hire more city staff to look after it and man the switchboards etc. etc.
D'Agostini said "Phase three drags the whole thing down, to a large degree. You're building a lot of kilometres and have very few customers."
It would seem that the city have the Field Of Dreams syndrome hoping that if they build the infrastructure they (the businesses) will come.
It is the same mentality that has seen the city spend close to one million of your dollars to see if a performing arts centre is a good idea. And, just like the proposed performing arts centre, the organizations that are supposed to be using the facility have said it doesn't make business sense for them to do so.
Not convinced it is worth the city's time investing further in something with such a long payback, Coun. Shari Green (a downtown business owner) said, "My concern is purely from a business perspective. I'm quite reluctant to put more work into it, if it doesn't look more rosy than this."
However, Mayor Rogers believes "sharper information" is needed before the city can decide whether pursing the fibre optic network is worth considering. And how much more will be spent on obtaining this information?
Perhaps it's not the information that needs to be sharper.
