Eastlink breaks promise to Rural Nova Scotia - no broadband till next year

The promise : "100& coverage for all of Nova Scotia by end of 2009"

The new promise: "By the end of December 2009; 80 of the 105 sites will be constructed and 29 of those towers will be "in service". "
from http://www.eastlink.ca/internet/ruralwireless/index.asp

So the truth is, only 30% "will be in service" by end of 2009. How do they expect us to believe that the other 70% will be up and running in 3 months or less when it took them 2 years to get just 30% (actually much less) up and running by now?

Who holds this massive corporation accountable? The new NDP Government? Its our tax dollars that they took to get this system into place. Normally when a contractor fails to deliver on time, there are penalties. My suggestion is this:

Eastlink pays to set up all rural Nova Scotians in zones 5 and 6 with highspeed satellight internet EQUIVALENT to their land based service which currently costs $300 per month per subscriber. This, plus set up and equipment, is what Eastlink should be on the hook to set up for all Rural Nova Scotians until they can get this less expensive system up and running.

This is the minimum. I would say penalties beyond that would include a class action suit on behalf of the population of Rural Nova Scotia against the company paying all costs associated with not having access to high speed internet might also be on the table.

That could amount to billions of dollars, so Eastlink needs to get their butt in gear. If they couldnt deliver, they shouldnt have committed to end of 2009 and the government should have awarded the contract to someone who had the skills and ability to make it happen.