Central Manitoba Broadband Project

Turn on your computer, check your e-mail and download an attachment from the office. Fill out a few forms and e-mail it back. In about five minutes, you can get back to your day off.

Your favourite band just released a new album, a free online exclusive. Visit the band's website and download the album, maybe watch a couple videos while you wait. In twenty minutes, you're going for a jog with the music playing on your mp3 player.

Tasks such as these are likely part of your everyday life. The convenience of broadband Internet is something we all take for granted. But for most Internet users in rural areas, connectivity like this is only a dream. Thanks to Central Plains Inc. (CPI) and the Central Manitoba Broadband (CMB) project, this dream is becoming a reality.

The CMB project involves building 21 towers with radio transmitters to carry the wireless broadband signal to receivers at the customers' end. Funding for the project is coming from CPI and the governments of Canada and Manitoba through MRIF.

"The service is available to 17,000 people in rural areas, as well as to the people in the towns," explained Bryan Spencer, Business and Project Manager with CPI. Eleven rural municipalities will get access to wireless broadband."

"Absolutely everybody who lives out here will benefit," said Spencer, explaining that most developers design web pages and applications with high-speed Internet in mind.

"Many people think of the Internet for e-mail and entertainment," added Community Futures CED Coordinator Ken Reimer, "but that's just a sliver of it."

Reimer said that large-scale agricultural producers could use the service for up to the minute weather updates or live monitoring of hog barns, for example.

"Companies will spend tens of thousands of dollars to build their own towers for broadband access," said Reimer. "Now they can have access to the infrastructure at no cost."