Introduction and History

Reviewed 06 Jul 10

Formation of ADnet

ADnet is a community driven telecommunications initiative in the Algoma District of Northern Ontario incorporated in 1998. The goal was to develop high-speed bandwidth at low per unit cost and make the bandwidth accessible throughout the entire Algoma District.

The concept grew out of informal talks amongst a number of organizations sympathetic to the concept of rolling out broadband communications in the north. These early discussions soon determined that some form of public incentive would be required as the private broadband service providers indicated that it was uneconomical for them to expand their infrastructure across the District without some form financial support to partially offset initial capital costs.

After months of preparatory work, ADnet received Letters Patent from the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations of the Province of Ontario to operate as a Not-for-Profit corporation on December 04,1998. Mr. Charlie Whitfield was elected President of ADnet and Chairman of the Board of Directors on December 31, 1998.

ADnet was one of five Community Based Networks (CBN) created across Northern Ontario in the same timeframe. The five major urban areas of Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Sudbury and North Bay served as the core localities.

ADnet received initial funding support from the Federal Economic Development Initiative in Northern Ontario (FedNor) , Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC). As well, ADnet founding organizations contributed cash and "in kind" goods and services.

The Initial Project

ADnet used some of the FedNor and NOHFC funds in Phase I during 1998 to develop a detailed business plan to install a high-speed bandwidth telecommunication infrastructure. This infrastructure would allow low cost communications for education, health, private sector and public sector organizations, utilizing such applications as tele-education, tele-medicine, tele-commuting and tele-working. The HRDC funds were used to hire three contract term employees from outlying communities in the Algoma District to guide ADnet through its development stage.

ADnet entered Phase II on July 05, 1999. In conjunction with the five other Northern Ontario CBNs, ADnet issued a joint Request for Proposal (RFP) for interested vendors to provide the necessary infrastructure. The RFP vendor selection process was completed on March 16, 2000 when the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Mr. Tim Hudak, announced the results and confirmed the NOHFC commitment to provide funding in the amount of $2.7 million to be used to partially offset the cost of constructing and upgrading telecommunications infrastructure throughout the Algoma District.

The selected vendor was a Consortium of Northern Ontario based telecommunications providers headed by Ontera and Sault Ste. Marie PUC Telecom. On August 29, 2000 ADnet and NOHFC signed a legal agreement confirming the terms and conditions of the funding support. The selected vendor began operating as a Joint Venture in December, 2000 and ADnet signed a confirmatory legal agreement with the vendor consortium on July 17, 2001.

Initial Service Access Points (SAP) consisting of high speed backbone routers and local loop connections were established in Blind River in March, 2001 and in Wawa in May, 2001. Additional SAPs were established in Thessalon, Bruce Mines, and St Joseph Island (Richard's Landing) in April 2002. Over the summer of 2002, SAPs were opened in Hornepayne, White River, Dubreuilville, Batchawana FN, Iron Bridge (Huron Shores), Spragge, Spanish, Thessalon FN, Mississauga FN, and Algoma Mills. SAPs were also installed in Serpent River FN and Sagamok but are awaiting the construction of fibre optic connectivity. The final SAPs were installed in the Spring of 2003 at Echo Bay, Desbarats, Goulais River, Searchmont and Batchawana Bay. A schematic representation of the network can be viewed at Network Diagram.