Working with the Vendor Community to
Bridge the Digital Divide

Currently, there are in excess of 40 companies delivering telecommunication services to the government network. In 2004, the government saw an opportunity to bridge the digital divide for citizens through its extension of service agreements for the government network.

Government determined that while the long-term goal of a next generation government network was being pursued, existing contracts would be renegotiated and renewed wherever possible to the end of 2008. This ensured continuity of service and stability for government while solutions for the next generation network are being developed, procured and implemented. It also gave government and the telecommunications industry the opportunity to explore options for bridging the digital divide for citizens.

The next generation network refers to aggregated network services and service upgrades identified in 2004 as necessary to support the business of government. It included the services that at the time were offered to core government, the education system and colleges, and it also included Crown corporations, health authorities and some agencies. The aggregation of government and broader public sector telecommunications users enabled network costs to be lowered while providing better value, service levels and increased bandwidth. It also leveraged opportunities to address the digital divide for communities, a model which was anticipated to include local telecommunications service providers, which it currently does.

At the time, the Province considered issuing a competitive solicitation for the extension of existing telecommunication service contracts. However, upon assessing the competitive marketplace, indications were that while there would have been a great deal of interest in and competition for the business on southern Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, in the Okanagan, and a few other more urbanized areas, there would likely have been very little or no competition in other areas of the province. Nor would there have been significant enough incentive for telecommunication service providers to develop a solution to British Columbia's digital divide problem.

Accordingly, it was concluded that the most cost effective way to bridge the digital divide, without any financial outlay by the Province, was to extend existing telecommunication service agreements with existing suppliers for an additional two years (to the end of 2008).

Network BC, on behalf of government and the broader public sector, entered into negotiations with TELUS, as the largest supplier of data and voice telecommunications infrastructure services to the Province to extend the existing contracts to 2008 in order to accelerate closing the digital divide. Similar extensions were negotiated with other telecommunication service suppliers.

In 2005 successful negotiations with TELUS resulted in two agreements, a Master Competitive Services Agreement and a Connecting Communities Agreement. These agreements provided significant savings and improved telecommunications capacity and services to the provincial government and the broader public sector, and also help the Province fulfill its commitment of bringing affordable high-speed Internet access to 366 British Columbia communities.

The key benefit to communities that was leveraged through the Connecting Communities Agreement was a requirement for open access points of presence, with similar pricing models, in all provincial communities. These points of presence are in place and being accessed by local Internet service providers to offer services to citizens.

In 2008 the provincial government, as per its previous commitment, announced its intentions to issue a public procurement for all public sector voice and data services upon expiry of the current extended contracts. Current telecommunications contracts have been extended for two years to accommodate the timeline for a procurement process.

The Connecting Communities Agreement was also extended two years, to December 31, 2010 to ensure Internet service providers continue to benefit from affordable pricing. The extended agreement also includes pricing and service improvements.