Akwesasne Broadband Initiative Update

As many of you may already know, broadband is coming to Akwesasne – in fact, it’s already here. For the last year work has been done to complete the 68 miles of fiber which has been run throughout the community. The central office is being built on the corner of Rt. 95 and Rt. 37, which will be the operation center and central hub for the Broadband project. What is planned to be offered at launch will be 70 channels of television, with four stations reserved for local content, a 20 Mbps fiber Internet connection, and local and long distance telephone service. All of these services are expected to be bundled into a “Triple Play” type package expected to run $120 a month. The TV service will include regional stations, which are brought in through the 300’ antenna at the central office and then fed back out to subscribers. There is also an option for enhanced TV packages utilizing a set-top box of some sort. Unlike Dish and DirectTV, the broadband initiatives television offerings are not limited in number of TV sets it can support. The availability of services is expected to begin in November with a test run of 50 residential and commercial customers, followed by the public rollout beginning in December.

Jeff Beekhoo, Broadband Network Engineer with the Broadband Initiative, expects to connect an average of 200 homes per month. With a total of 1600 households in the community, it’s easy to expect that everyone in the community could be connected, if they wish, by next year. Beekhoo estimates the entire project will create at least 15 jobs right now, with more expected to come. The project also encourages local business to form as the installers, who will be hired as contractors and sole-proprietorship businesses, all from within the community.

Beekhoo also spoke about a new department currently in the planning stages. The previously mentioned 4 channels of local content will need to come from somewhere, and this department will create that content. With a sizable investment in broadcast caliber video and audio equipment, you can expect that most local events will be televised, soon.

Besides the obvious benefits that TV, Internet access, and phone service bring, other exciting arenas this project will open up are in the field of telemedicine and in distance learning. The clinic here in Akwesasne is already benefiting from telemedicine, where a provider in another location is able to consult on patients here in the community, alleviating the need to go to places like Burlington, or Syracuse in some instances. A specialist is only a click away, rather than hundreds of miles away.

Having access to faster Internet will also bring courses, which may rely on high def video to bring lectures to students, are now feasible as well. The possibilities are literally endless.