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Important information for all those waiting for Seaside service:
Under the Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative, Seaside's job is to build a network of structures covering Cape Breton and the five northern counties of mainland Nova Scotia. This is an area one-fifth the size of Texas, but with far more challenging topography and a much harsher climate.
With each passing week, more and more of you have been able to access our service.
Currently, our network is 85 percent complete. By Christmas, we expect to have covered 94 percent of the civic addresses in our territory. At year's end, there will still be a few hundred households without access to high speed. We understand the frustration of rural dial-up. That is why Seaside competed for and won the right to provide broadband service to more than half of Nova Scotia, and we will not be satisfied until everyone who wants service has it.
Getting this far has been a complicated process. We designed a network capable of covering 2,800 square kilometres. Since Nova Scotia is the first jurisdiction in North America to promise universal broadband access, we drew on the engineering knowledge of Motorola International to put their equipment in the right places.
We then selected sites and negotiated leases for 181 new structures. Each of the new structures required a public consultation process and federal regulatory approval. In addition, we had to negotiate to place our equipment on 21 government-owned communications towers.
We arranged for electrical power to all of our structures - a process that can sometimes take weeks or months. We installed and tested almost 1,000 individual pieces of radio equipment - transmitters, receivers, routers, and antennas.
Once a particular section of our network obtains power, we look for and eliminate signal holes. These are small, localized areas, where dense vegetation or changes in terrain block the wireless signal.
The graph below depicts the progress of our network. Work to design the network, lease tower sites, and obtain permits dominated the early months of the project. Once construction began, there was constant expansion of our broadband network, which continues today.
At present, our network "backbone" is in place and fully operational. Most of the network "ribs" or "spurs" are also in place, although some sections are still waiting for power. Our field crews will focus on filling in signal holes in early 2010. This requires visiting each problem area and determining why our signal is not getting through.
Progress is measured one or two customers at a time. Solutions may require adjusting a customer's antenna location, or installing a small pole. We will continue to work throughout the winter.
We share your impatience, and we thank you for bearing with us. Once we have specific information on construction and completion of service in your area, we will inform you directly. | 
