[Advisors] FW: First One Gigabit Service Launching in Ontario -- in Muskoka-Parry Sound!

[Norah Fountain CH]

Dear Telecom Canada advisors and friends, I thought this release may
interest you and wanted to give you a first heads up. For the writers and
those interested in learning more on this list, please reach out to the
contacts on the release (as I¹m going in for some surgery tomorrow so won¹t
be around.) Hope you don¹t mind me sending this to the list. The press
release goes out tomorrow via CNW. If you feel it appropriate, would love it
if you would share with your other networks, such as our CIRA friends.

Internet connectivity just took a big step forward in Ontario.

Lakeland Networks is rolling out the first 1 Gigabit fibre service in
Ontario to present fibre customers in Muskoka and Almaguin starting in
April. A press release from Lakeland Networks is attached for your
information (and pasted in below for your convenience).

This is a significant first and this level of fibre service is considered
foundational for the knowledge based economy in Ontario and Canada.

What does 1 Gigabit mean?
€You could download an entire 14GB digital movie in less than two minutes OR
you could download hundreds of high quality digital photos at the same time.
In comparison, a small email uses about 2KB of data while a high quality
digital picture can use up to 10MB. Many businesses in Muskoka today cannot
email a 10MB photo (let alone a 1MB photo!).

There was a hint of this announcement at the One Gigabit Summit recently in
Gravenhurst. Now it¹s official and some fibre customers in towns like
Bracebridge will be hooked up to the fastest Internet in just a matter of
weeks.

For interviews about what 1 Gigabit means for our region, contact Bill
Gispen or Chris Litschko (he will be travelling starting Sunday so would
need to be reached before then at 888-282-7711 ext 224).

PRESS RELEASE with Contact info attached and pasted in below.

-- 

FOR RELEASE MARCH 25

Lakeland Networks to offer fastest Internet in Ontario

Muskoka, Ontario: Starting this spring, businesses in Muskoka and Almaguin
will be the first in Ontario to experience the speed and advantages of 1
Gigabit (1GB) Internet service. Lakeland Networks will start rolling out the
blazing fast Internet as early as April to present customers ­ including
municipalities, schools, hospitals, police and business users.

³This first of its kind offering gives local business an advantage in a
tough economic environment, while helping to attract new business
opportunities for the local economy,² says Chris Litschko, CEO, Lakeland
Holding. ³Everyone wins, and with Muskoka & Almaguin having ease of access
to the highway corridor, available real estate, and now the fastest
Internet, we hope that companies look to our area to host their business
operations or new ventures,² states Litschko.

Just how fast is it?
Delivered by fibre optics, 1GB service is over 50 times faster than the
average data transfer speed, the average being under 20 Megabits per second
(Mbps). A fibre Internet connection provides the fastest communications
available based on light wavelengths travelling through very small glass
tubes for hundreds of kilometers with minimal signal loss. Many separate
wavelengths can all operate within one tube. With these attributes, fibre is
the standard for all levels of communications. Lakeland is taking the lead,
and has recently upgraded its equipment to support this type of service
offering to clients.

³Lakeland Networks will be launching the Gigabit offering out to our
existing customers starting in April, and then continue to expand our
gigabit fibre to businesses as we build out infrastructure,² explains Bill
Gispen, Manager of Lakeland Networks. Being able to offer this service in
one of the most beautiful parts of the province will undoubtedly have a very
positive effect on the overall business climate for this region as it
removes a technology barrier for any business that depends on reliable, fast
Internet to compete.

Presently in Muskoka, Internet speeds can range from Œslow speed¹ (any data
transfer speed under 256 Kilobytes (KB) per second) to under 20Mbps for
those on some cable or existing fibre connections, which are generally only
available in large urban areas. To understand what it means to increase
Internet speed to 1Gb, it helps to think about it compared to the speed of
car travel. 

€    If an Internet speed of 20 Mbps was related to a car in Km/h, your
³car² would travel only 20 Km/h. With Lakeland Networks (1GB), your ³car²
would be able to travel 1,661 Km/h. As such, an average Internet speed ³car²
trip from Halifax to Vancouver would take over 12 days (non-stop). A
Lakeland Networks fibre Internet Gig ³car² would be able to do the same trip
in just over 3 hours. This changes everything for business.


Local businesses involved with video or animation or mechanical diagnostics
that need to exchange large files, or to download related software will be
able to complete these tasks at least 50 times faster than before once 1GB
is in place. Students will be able to interact with online classes in
real-time no matter how complex the material being shared back and forth.
Our hospitals will be able to share diagnostic imaging with specialists to
get answers faster than ever before possible.


About Lakeland Networks

Lakeland Networks, a division of Lakeland Energy Ltd., is a subsidiary of
Lakeland Holding Ltd., which is owned by 5 local municipalities:
Bracebridge, Huntsville, Burk¹s Falls, Sundridge and Magnetawan. Through
Lakeland Holding Ltd., these municipalities also own Lakeland Power
Distribution Ltd. (electricity distribution) and Bracebridge Generation
(green waterpower electricity generation). Lakeland Energy Ltd/Lakeland
Networks was created to help support areas of business that needed
assistance, providing services which include high-speed wireless internet,
VoIP phone service, point-to-point networking for business Internet, and
full service IT and local area network and VLAN extension solutions. Since
2007, Lakeland Networks has grown to own over 250 kilometers of fibre to
help support its mandate of creating a better economic environment for
business.

For more information contact:

Bill Gispen, Manager, Lakeland Networks        Chris Litschko, CEO, Lakeland
Holding Ltd.
888-282-7711 ext 507                    888-282-7711 ext 224
bgispen at lakelandenergy.com                cjlitschko at lakelandholding.com
LakelandNetworks.com

Quick Facts:
€    1GB service is over 50 times faster than the average Internet speeds
offered in Canada today.
€    Muskoka-Almaguin will be the first in Ontario to access 1Gb speeds
(there are 1 GB fibre offerings in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver).
€    A gigabit (GB) per second is equal to 1000 megabits per second (Mbps).
€    The average Internet speed offered in Muskoka-Almaguin today approaches
20Mbps (the fastest in Toronto is about 50Mbps).
€    With 1GB service, you can download an entire 14GB digital movie in less
than two minutes or you could download hundreds of high quality digital
photos at the same time. In comparison, a small email uses about 2KB of data
while a high quality digital picture can use up to 10MB. Many businesses in
Muskoka today cannot email a 10MB photo.
€    There is no 1GB service to individual homes in Canada.
€    Lakeland Networks has been providing the fastest fibre service (of up
to 100Mbps) to customers in Muskoka and Almaguin and will begin delivering
1GB in April.







----

Press release distribution on behalf of Lakeland Holding by Norah Fountain,
Communications Specialist



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