The Town of Cochrane is currently exploring the possibility of installing fiber optic cables for businesses to access.
Compared to using more traditional copper wires, fiber cables are faster and experience less signal loss.
The town held a public planning session on June 29 to discuss options for a fiber network, see who would be interested in accessing this service, and to garner feedback. Presenters at the session were Stefan Price, manager of information services with the town, and Mike Korman, manager of economic development with the town.
“This is about setting up the Cochrane environment, the community we’re in, to make it an attractive place for you guys to do business and to make it a differentiator so that you guys want to invest in the community,” Price said.
Korman and Price talked about other communities employing a fiber network such as Olds, Kelowna, BC, and Coquitlam, BC. Each community uses its own method of allowing access to the fiber network and determining its cost.
It was pointed out that parts of Cochrane currently have fiber network installed but are not being utilized. Korman and Price discussed the option of extending the fiber cables to access businesses in Heritage Hills, Sunset, Riversong, and Fireside.
Fiber cables are generally installed underground, which figures into the cost of purchasing and installation. Price said that timing-wise, now may be the time to act if enough businesses are interested in using a fiber network.
“We are considering very carefully new developments and construction activity where the road is being dug up and areas are being dug up to look at things like can we at least put conduits in for now so that we have opportunities down the road,” Price said.
Those in attendance asked for a list of pros and cons comparing the different models communities are currently using for their fiber networks. They also discussed the possibility of using a combination of fiber network and a public wireless network to serve the business core.
The possibility of allowing residential units access to the network was mentioned, although to start the network will be designated for businesses.
