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The SuperNet is designed to cover Alberta’s large geographical area (661,000 km²)^source and to serve both the urban and rural populations.

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Figure 7. SuperNet - How are stakeholders connected?
Source: June 8, 2016 Service Alberta IM Aware presentation - Alberta SuperNet

The SuperNet was a $295 million strategic infrastructure investment by the Government of Alberta ($193 million) and Bell Canada ($102 million). Construction was completed in 2005.^source Final costs, including subsequent extensions, were approximately $330 million.^source At the time of completion, the SuperNet was the first jurisdiction-wide fibre optic network in North America.

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The June 2018 expiry of the SuperNet operating contract is providing government with an opportunity to review the approach for SuperNet and look at possible ways for it to help enable improved rural internet services, while enhancing the delivery of online government services to Albertans. On February 16, 2016, Service Alberta issued a Pre-Qualification Request (PQR), to identify potential service providers, to review business and technical requirements, and to gather current information on industry trends.³³ Service Alberta also issued a concurrent Request for Proposal (RFP) for a procurement fairness monitor.³⁴ In May 2016, telecommunications operators Axia, Bell, Telus, and Zayo were prequalified to participate through the PQR process.³⁵ Service Alberta are also acting as an advocate to the federal government with regards to the internet needs of rural Albertans, and advocating for access to federal broadband funding.

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SuperNet Operating Model

The Alberta SuperNet is a backhaul network (or ‘middle-mile’) that connects on one end to local access networks (‘first-’ or ‘last-mile’ connections) and on the other end to separate networks that connect to the internet. It consists of base area (BAN) and extended area (EAN) fibre networks, as well as an extended area wireless network (EAWN). The BAN connects 27 larger urban centres, while the EAN and EAWN reach 402 smaller rural communities (see Figure 8 and Appendices: A1. Networking – SuperNet BAN, and A2. EAN and EAWN communities).

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Public sector organizations that utilize Axia’s Next Generation Network (NGN) services include Government of Alberta ministries, schools, health facilities, libraries and municipalities.³⁷ School districts receive subsidies for each site of $800 per month that may only be spent on connecting to the Alberta SuperNet to help offset costs.^source Pricing for NGN services were revised in September 2015 for all ministries and effective until June 30, 2018. Previous to that, only Alberta Education had been able to utilize updated pricing. These packages provide bandwidth services across all government ministries, with the goal of delivering “dramatically higher bandwidth rates at a significantly lower cost per megabit.”³⁹ Of note, the cost of connecting First Nations schools to the SuperNet is covered by the Federal Government through the department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.^source

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Figure 8. Map of the Alberta SuperNet showing the Base Area and Extended Area Fibre Networks and the Extended Wireless Area^source