A small city in southern Manitoba is poised to offer free high speed internet to residents as a city service, saying it is the first city in Canada to do so.
The “Morenet” service is being launched in Morden, Manitoba.
Mayor Ken Wiebe said staff began to talk about the need for the service years ago.
“The internet is so important, particularly to business, and how do we do that without spending millions and millions and millions of dollars, in cable and all that,” he said, adding that the conversation shifted to become less theoretical eight or nine months ago.
“You look at your home, your home is wireless. Businesses are wireless. Why can’t a community be wireless,” Wiebe said.
Wiebe said while there will be an installation cost, after that, residents will be able to access high speed internet without paying a monthly service change.
“We’ve been testing it for about four months, and it’s working,” said Wiebe, explaining that city staff have been using the service on a confidential basis.
Morenet will begin accepting new customers to a limited area of the community May 1, with the goal of expanding to all residents and businesses by September, 2018.
