Public good, private providers?: Alternative internet networks in Alberta

Despite high-speed broadband access being named a basic service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in late 2016, many Canadians remain cut off from the internet, unable to participate in the social, economic, and political facets of life that have increasingly moved online. This research project considers existing alternative internet network models in Alberta. Instead of waiting for incumbent internet service providers to solve the problem of universal access, several Albertan communities have taken steps to connect themselves. Twenty years after the inception of the provincial internet backbone, the SuperNet, how have Albertan communities engaged with internet infrastructure? As politicians, regulators, and citizens increasingly state the essential nature of high-quality, affordable internet service as a public good, what lessons, if any, can be learned from the different ways non-incumbent operators conceptualize, build, and operate alternative networks? Using qualitative interviews, policy documents, and marketing materials, I focus on three network models: a fixed wireless access network in a rural community, a non-profit internet exchange, and a municipally-owned and operated fibre network in an urban centre. Drawing upon political economy of communications literature as a theoretical framework, I consider what policy recommendations can be made based on these case studies.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication and Media Studies

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Arts

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Anderson, Katelyn M.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Taylor, Gregory

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Bakardjieva, Maria
• McMahon, Rob

• community broadband
• alternative networks
• political economy of communications
• Internet policy
• telecommunications policy

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38613

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/113050