Current state of Alberta's Supernet

Current State of Alberta's Supernet

Alberta's Supernet remains a critical but underperforming piece of infrastructure, despite nearly a quarter century of development and over $1 billion in provincial investment.

Infrastructure Overview

The Alberta Supernet is a fibre-optic and wireless broadband network that connects over 4,200 public institutions—including schools, hospitals, libraries, government offices, and municipal facilities—across 429 communities in the province. The network consists of approximately 13,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables and wireless links, built through a public-private partnership that began in 2001.alberta+1​

Operational Status and Management

Bell Canada has operated the Supernet since September 2018, when it acquired the network from Axia NetMedia. The network continues to provide backbone transport connectivity to the province, and recent efforts have focused on expanding capacity to meet increasing demand. For example, Cybera, a non-profit organization providing network services to research and education institutions in Alberta, completed a major capacity expansion project between March 2023 and October 2024, implementing dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology at multiple points of presence to increase bandwidth utilization over existing fibre infrastructure.youtube​cbc​

Critical Performance Issues

Despite the substantial investment, Alberta now ranks last among all Canadian provinces for rural broadband availability. Key statistics reveal the scope of the problem:canadianconsultingengineer+1​

Current Connectivity Gaps: Approximately 40 percent of rural Alberta households have access to high-speed internet, compared to 85 percent in Quebec. A 2022 provincial government study found that 67 percent of rural Albertans and 80 percent of Indigenous communities lacked access to broadband at federal target speeds of 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads.openjournals.uwaterloo+1​

Structural Failures: The fundamental issue stems from the Supernet's design, which was intended to serve as transport infrastructure (the "highway") while Internet Service Providers would build the final connections to homes and businesses (the "last mile"). This model failed because smaller ISPs found the connection costs to the Supernet prohibitively expensive, leaving many rural areas without service options.canadianconsultingengineer​

Historical Context: When the Alberta Auditor General reviewed the Supernet in 2018, it found that over $1 billion in public investment had been made, yet the benefits were unclear, citing poor contract management as a primary oversight.canadianconsultingengineer​

Complementary Broadband Initiatives

To address these gaps, Alberta has launched parallel programs:

Alberta Broadband Fund (ABF): The province committed $100 million as part of a broader $390 million broadband investment strategy. The ABF targets rural, remote, and Indigenous communities not yet served by federal broadband programs. As of August 2024, joint federal and provincial investments exceeded $370 million across 54 broadband projects, bringing connectivity to over 51,000 households in 328 communities.policyoptions.irpp+1​

Federal Universal Broadband Fund (UBF): Over 60 projects have received CRTC funding totaling over $752 million, benefiting approximately 49,000 households nationally. Alberta has received multiple awards, including recent 2025 funding decisions for fibre transport projects to underserved communities.axiafibrenet+1​

Local Initiatives and Perspectives

Some municipalities have moved beyond relying on the Supernet. Red Deer County, for example, is investing $30 million of its own resources ($10 million from the UBF and $20 million locally) to develop independent broadband infrastructure, viewing the original Supernet as "a massive failure on the province's part."canadianconsultingengineer​

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the inadequacy of rural connectivity—residents in some areas had to drive to truck stops to access Wi-Fi for online work and schooling.canadianconsultingengineer​

Current Outlook

While the Supernet itself remains functional as backbone infrastructure, Alberta's rural broadband crisis persists. The province's last-place ranking among provinces despite the early technological advantage gained through the Supernet demonstrates that infrastructure backbone alone cannot bridge the digital divide without supporting policies, affordable access arrangements, and viable business models for last-mile connectivity. Ongoing federal and provincial funding initiatives represent the most recent attempt to address these long-standing connectivity gaps.

1. https://www.alberta.ca/supernet
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_SuperNet
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCtT4XwhT7A
4. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/albertan-rural-internet-lagging-1.7438965
5. https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/features/alberta-supernet/
6. https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2655/3353
7. https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2024/11/alberta-rural-high-speed-internet/
8. https://www.axiafibrenet.com/company/features/alberta-supernet
9. https://www.abmunis.ca/resolution/broadband-internet
10. https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/acrtc/prx/2020cramer.htm
11. https://www.cybera.ca/expanding-our-supernet-connectivity/
12. https://www.axiafibrenet.com/company/features/bell-completes-acquisition-axia-netmedia
13. https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-broadband-fund
14. https://globalnews.ca/news/4305165/bell-canada-new-supernet-provider-in-alberta/
15. https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/internet/select.htm
16. https://www.cybera.ca/tag/supernet/
17. https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-148.htm