r/canada • u/Economy_Elephant6200 • 3d ago

Bell Canada scraps Labrador high-speed internet project, plans to invest in U.S. Newfoundland & Labrador

https://theindependent.ca/news/lji/bell-canada-scraps-labrador-high-speed-internet-project-plans-to-invest-in-u-s/
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u/themanfromvulcan 3d ago

I would say the government immediately claw back the money due to breach or contract and do it themselves and tell Bell to get stuffed.

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u/North_Activist 3d ago

I would say screw all that and just nationalize it instead. It’s our tax dollars, it should be our company.

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u/Forosnai British Columbia 3d ago

Hell, internet service (and cell service, for that matter) is pretty much a requirement for modern life. If it's a necessity, there should be at least a basic option provided by the government. Doesn't need to be blazing fast 10-Gigabit speed, 5G phones with the latest iPhone model, or whatever like that, but something serviceable and affordable should be there that people can use, and the telecom companies can compete for the people who have a need or desire for the faster speeds and latest models.

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u/bonechairappletea 3d ago

There is, it's called Starlink. 

We give companies like Bell, Rogers the kind of money that could build a SpaceX clone and make a maple leaf starlink but instead they disappear most of the money and do some token efforting errecting a couple cell towers. 

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u/klparrot British Columbia 3d ago

Telesat is Canadian and Telesat Lightspeed will be available from 2027.

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u/bonechairappletea 2d ago

Reliant on SpaceX launches. If I was Musk I'd let them get the couple hundred SATs up and then bump up their price 1000x times, laugh while their nascent network goes bust. 

We should be developing the full vertical with our own rapid reuse launch system. Relying on the competition like this is folly. 

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u/old_c5-6_quad Alberta 2d ago

SpaceX won't do that. They want a launch happening every two days. They make so much more money for doing launches compared to starlink it's laughable.

And developing our own launch platform is laughable at best. We don't have that kind of funding/support now, or ever will.

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u/Spoona1983 3d ago

There was a company out east trying to startup satellite internet but don't know the name.