CHARLES TWEED/Ponoka News
Ponoka County rural residents may be reading this article via www.ponokanews.com after CCI wireless’ Ponoka tower went live April 18.
The new service is now available as part of an initiative by the Ponoka County council to provide wireless service to even the most remote areas of the area.
“We’ve waited for years hoping that private industry would come along and provide high speed service to some of the more remote rural areas and it has never happened,” said Ponoka County CAO Charlie Cutforth.
“So a couple years ago gas co-ops in Alberta got together and formed CCI wireless…when they approached the county, we got a grant of $500,000 to assist in building these towers in remote areas.”
The county also saw an opportunity to make sure its ratepayers were not at a competitive advantage compared to other areas.
“People treat it like another utility. The kids do a lot of work online and we get calls from potential purchasers of property and the first question they ask is “is there high speed Internet at that location?” It has just become that critical to so many people and the farm community is no exception.”
For more information or to see if your home is in the new tower’s coverage range visit www.cciwireless.ca