CENTRE WELLINGTON – Councillors in Centre Wellington have called a fee charged to Internet service providers (ISP) as unfair to those looking to expand broadband in rural parts of the township.
In Centre Wellington telecommunications companies are charged a yearly fee called the municipal access agreement fee of $5,000.
Companies are also charged an initial fee of $10,000 upon execution of the agreement.
"The purpose of these fees are to recover township costs including: negotiating the agreement terms and conditions, construction plans review and approvals, oversight and coordination during initial installation, and ongoing plan review and approvals related to operation, maintenance, and modifications of the telecommunications infrastructure that impact the township’s rights-of way," explained Colin Baker, Centre Wellington managing director of infrastructure.
At Monday’s council meeting, councillor Kirk McElwain mentioned that this fee is unfair to smaller ISPs that are expanding broadband and laying fibre in rural parts of the township where they get much fewer customers than in urban areas.
Staff were then directed by a motion to revisit and reconsider fees charged to companies installing rural broadband.
In a phone call after the meeting, McElwain said this charge makes sense in urban areas where utility installation can interfere with municipal services.
“But there are no municipal services rurally,” McElwain said, adding that when EH!Tel installed fibre between Ariss and Inverhaugh they didn’t cause any issues to municipal services. “Yet they’re paying the same ridiculously high fee every year and having to charge it back to the customers.”
EH!Tel’s website confirms that Centre Wellington residents are pay an additional $9.60 per month, until Dec. 31 2021, as an administrative recovery surcharge.
“So people that live in Ponsonby for instance on one side of the road they’re paying Guelph/Eramosa fees, across the road they’re paying this extra $9.60 a month because they have the Centre Wellington surcharge,” McElwain said.
“That's the part to me that doesn’t make sense. If Guelph/Eramosa can do it without charging these huge fees, why can’t Centre Wellington?”
Centre Wellington is the only municipality in the county with these fees but Baker said by email that he's aware of many other municipalities that require municipal access agreements.
McElwain said he thinks the initial $10,000 charge isn’t encouraging to those looking to expand into rural markets as some providers are serving a small customer base but are charged the same as any other ISP.
“Compare that to somebody like Bell Canada or Wightman who have access to 10,000 homes, it’s a very unfair charge,” McElwain said.
Councillor Bob Foster agrees with McElwain that these fees are unreasonable for rural providers.
“Reliable Internet at a reasonable price is very important for all residents, not just the urban ones,” Foster said in a phone call.
“The township’s gotta do our part to get rural broadband established by eliminating or at least sharply reducing, these access fees. We’re the only municipality that charges them in our county.”
Foster noted how much of life has shifted online, particularly during the pandemic, and that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities sees it as an important economic development and health issue.
“It is of national importance that rural communities have good Internet access,” Foster said.
Baker said that as directed by council, staff will be reviewing this fee structure and will be reporting back next year.
