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Key positions open on board charged with bringing fibre internet to town

Hospitals, governments to be among first users of community-owned internet service
internet 2016

A town economic development project that aims to deliver high-speed, fibre-optic internet service to local businesses is on track, the profits of which will stay within the community.

That’s because the local municipality is in the enviable position of owning 97 per cent of its hydro utility company, Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution — overseeing an asset base of approximately $80 million and 45,000 customers — and has the ability to connect with all area businesses and homes, Town of Newmarket chief administrative officer Bob Shelton said.

The start-up data infrastructure company, Envi Network Ltd., is a standalone subsidiary of the hydro utility. It is currently building the primary route for the fibre network and from there, will bring service lines to the customers' doorsteps. 

An open call is now underway to appoint two independent directors of the board to begin serving in 2019, as well as to install a president for the internet service provider.

According to the search agency, Boyden, the directors will have an active role in guiding the future business strategy and will have strong business and financial backgrounds and industry sector experience in the areas of broadband, CIT and innovation.

Envi's first president, a senior executive who will report to the board of directors, will have key deliverables that include ”building a company that addresses customers’ needs, mobilizes technology, embraces change, and enables economic opportunities”.

“Newmarket can put out strategies (similar to) other municipalities, but we want to get the competitive advantage to attract and retain businesses, particularly as we move to a different economic landscape,” Shelton said.

Part of the changing business scene is a move away from traditional workplaces and a growing self-employed population. Current internet service is not consistent across town and the goal is to provide ultra-high speed service at a reasonable cost, Shelton added.

It’s a question of how fast you can transfer chunks of data while uploading, not downloading, Envi general manager Jim Gragtmans said.

“We’re so data-dependent, increasingly so, and the older technology has restraints on them (in terms of upload speed),” Gragtmans said. “Fibre is replacing that. It opens that up to limitless.”

Customers such as hospitals, where staff need to upload large amounts of health data, and governments committed to an open-data approach, count on up-to-date broadband to conduct business effectively.

For more information about applying for the board director positions by Sept. 21, click here