Maple Ridge has inked a 10-year deal with CONNEX to provide a backbone fibre-optic network to make information bits fly between district computers and offices.

The agreement gives CONNEX, a Toronto company, access to the four kilometres of Maple Ridge’s empty conduit, or pipe, needed to run fibre-optic cable. CONNEX will install those fibre optic lines, basically from beneath the Telus building south of Lougheed Highway and below 224th Street, up to district hall and east to 240th Street, after which it turns south.

“This is other leg of our communications strategy,” said the district’s chief information officer John Bastaja.

He compared the fibre-optic lines to the highway while the wireless downtown network set up previously in partnership with Tranzeo are the collector roads.

The deal will allow CONNEX to use the conduit and to take advantage of the compact downtown to grow its own business. CONNEX could compete with Shaw or Telus in offering broadband services. In return, the district’s capacity to move files between offices or with the public, takes a big jump. The Internet connection speed will 100 megabits per second, Bastaja pointed out. A household subscriber maxes out at five.

When it comes to the speed between district offices and computers, one gigabit (1,000 megabits) of information can be handled. That will give the district lots of capability in the future to add Net services for residents.

One spinoff for the local economy will be the increased connectivity and competition, hopefully leading to better services and prices, between carriers which should attract businesses.

Maple Ridge created its fibre optic capacity as it was improving its roads. Any time a section of Dewdney Trunk Road, or even the Spirit Square section of 224th Street was torn up, the district installed plastic pipe that would be capable of containing fibre optic cable.

Along Dewdney Trunk Road from 232nd to 240th street and down 240th between 112th and 118th Avenues, it even used its old water mains as the conduits or pipes for the fibre optic cable. The old six-inch wide water mains no longer could carry pressurized water so the district just cleaned them out and installed a plastic sleeve.

“The pipes were in good shape. They just couldn’t hold water pressurized water,” Bastaja said.

“What we were trying to do is not waste anything. Saves money.”

Council approved the deal on Tuesday.

Mayor Ernie Daykin in a release said, “Broadband is the cornerstone of economic development. Through technology we create an even more competitive environment to help attract the companies and knowledge workers that rely on the culture of ‘intelligent, connected community’ development.”

According to CONNEX boss Ron Dekker, “The ‘Intelligent Community’ approach we’re working with Maple Ridge to deliver will provide tremendous benefit to this community. Not only does it encourage even more knowledge workers to set up home based services here; it will attract high bandwidth users such as media firms and Internet -based companies as well as those in the medical and research sectors. Residents who want advanced services at home will have access to them at an affordable price.”

Installation should start in the fall.