Sturgeon County is extending its existing fibre network to 1,050 more homes in the County. This is in addition to about 850 homes that already have fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in the County.

Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH for short) is the most reliable and fastest internet service available. Homes with FTTH have a small fibre (glass) cable installed that connects their home to the Internet. This service is buried underground, where it is immune from weather and geography issues that can affect wireless or satellite service and provides for the fastest internet speeds available.

All three levels of government recognize the importance of providing high speed internet to the residents of Sturgeon County and are contributing to the funding of this project:

Sturgeon County will own and operate this service. The County has hired leading Alberta-based private sector firms to design, build, and operate the network on behalf of the County.

The Province of Alberta and Government of Canada had very specific criteria for determining which homes could be supported by their funding. Sturgeon County added funding to allow the connection of additional homes where it was cost effective. Unfortunately, not all homes could be connected without additional support from other levels of government.

Sturgeon County is continuing to look for opportunities to extend fibre to more homes. It is also working with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the County to improve wireless service to homes that don’t have access to fibre.

Construction of a fibre network involves several work crews, each managing different parts of construction. These crews will be moving around the County over the next year to build the network and connect the fibre to your home. There is a project site where you can follow the construction and get a better idea when you will be connected.

At the highest level:

• Increased quality of life for residents through a faster and more reliable internet, which can be leveraged to support improved schooling, working, entertainment, security, and health
• An increased competitive advantage for businesses by leveraging a faster and more reliable internet to support new work models, allow innovation and better support customers

Sturgeon County licenses Internet Service Providers to sell the fibre service to customers. The County sets wholesale rates but does not set retail rates.

This gives residents and businesses choice over the type of service and support they get and encourages low pricing and quality support through competition.

Costs should be very competitive with fibre service in urban areas such as St. Albert and Edmonton.

Construction is scheduled to start in April 2026 and is expected to be complete by April 2027. But weather, underground challenges, and other issues can disrupt this schedule.

If you are eligible to get fibre the property owner has to sign an Access Agreement to give the County and its contractors permission to access the property to install the fibre connection from the road to your home.

You can read and sign the access agreement here: Broadband Fibre Network.

The County highly recommends that all homeowners get the fibre installed to their home while construction is underway as there is no charge for the installation. Connections after the construction deadline will be subject to a charge.

Property owners can decide if they want the fibre installed or not, regardless of their plans to subscribe. Studies have shown that just having the capability of fibre adds value to a residence or business, so installation is highly recommended, even if a subscription is not planned at this time.

Funding conditions required that the County choose the most cost-effective path to connect homes, even if other paths may have allowed for the connection of additional homes. The County took that approach but chose to fund additional homes when it could cost-effectively do so without changing the route.