Public good, private providers?: Alternative internet networks in Alberta

Anderson, Katelyn M.

Public good, private providers?: Alternative internet networks in Alberta

dc.contributor.advisor	Taylor, Gregory
dc.contributor.author	Anderson, Katelyn M.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Bakardjieva, Maria
dc.contributor.committeemember	McMahon, Rob
dc.date	2021-02
dc.date.accessioned	2021-02-01T16:39:55Z
dc.date.available	2021-02-01T16:39:55Z
dc.date.issued	2021-01-15
dc.description.abstract	Despite high-speed broadband access being named a basic service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in late 2016, many Canadians remain cut off from the internet, unable to participate in the social, economic, and political facets of life that have increasingly moved online. This research project considers existing alternative internet network models in Alberta. Instead of waiting for incumbent internet service providers to solve the problem of universal access, several Albertan communities have taken steps to connect themselves. Twenty years after the inception of the provincial internet backbone, the SuperNet, how have Albertan communities engaged with internet infrastructure? As politicians, regulators, and citizens increasingly state the essential nature of high-quality, affordable internet service as a public good, what lessons, if any, can be learned from the different ways non-incumbent operators conceptualize, build, and operate alternative networks? Using qualitative interviews, policy documents, and marketing materials, I focus on three network models: a fixed wireless access network in a rural community, a non-profit internet exchange, and a municipally-owned and operated fibre network in an urban centre. Drawing upon political economy of communications literature as a theoretical framework, I consider what policy recommendations can be made based on these case studies.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Anderson, K. M. (2021). Public good, private providers?: Alternative internet networks in Alberta (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38613
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113050
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Arts	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject	community broadband	en_US
dc.subject	alternative networks	en_US
dc.subject	political economy of communications	en_US
dc.subject	Internet policy	en_US
dc.subject	telecommunications policy	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Mass Communications	en_US
dc.title	Public good, private providers?: Alternative internet networks in Alberta	en_US
dc.type	master thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Communication and Media Studies	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Master of Arts (MA)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true	en_US