Students living in towns like Bird Cove, Pond Cove and St. Paul's, who are dependent on high speed internet for school work, are at a huge disadvantage and being penalized for where they live.
That's the view of two council officials whose towns missed out on what they deem an essential service when the provincial government's much vaunted Rural Broadband Initiative was released last month.
Bird Cove mayor Richard May and St. Paul's town clerk Monica Pittman said they were livid on discovering their communities would not benefit from the government subsidized deal with Bell Aliant.
On Dec. 22, Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development Keith Hutchings announced the communities of River of Ponds, Hawkes Bay, Black Duck Cove, Forresters Point, St. Barbe, Brig Bay, Plum Point, Blue Cove, Reef's Harbour and Ship Cove would be connected to the island's broadband network by March 31, 2013, the deadline agreed upon by all Internet Service Providers (ISP) under the RBI deal.
Under the deal, Bell Aliant will use $2.1 million from the provincial government, made available in Budget 2011, as part of their $3.5 million project that will also cover eight regions in Gander-New Wes Valley and Clarenville-Bonavista.
Mr. May said it was "short sighted" to leave out Bird Cove and Pond Cove especially when adjacent communities will be given access adding that a student at Bird Cove would be forced to use dial-up internet while students at Brig Bay, less than two kilometres away would use high speed.
"I'm really happy and very proud that other communities are getting it and I hope that all my arguing over the past few years has helped in some way, but we need it too," Mr. May said.
"This isn't a case of 'we should have been included', we need it.
"It's not as though they are going to go and reinvest money in the future. Once this is done, that's it. They'll brush it off and they'll never look back."
He is also concerned that a lack of internet service would prevent potential residential growth and would stunt economic development.
He pointed to the Bird Cove Interpretation Centre as a perfect example.
"The Interpretation Centre, that should be heavily using the internet as a part of what it's doing, won't be able. They can't even update their own website from its own location ... you've got to go outside the community to update the website," he said.
"It's ludicrous. It's hard for businesses to do more when you have limited services."
Ms. Pittman was equally upset at the decision saying she expected her town would be one of ones to receive high speed, especially considering that all of Bell Aliant's cables run through the town and communities on either side will be given access.
"Our kids are being deprived of an essential service," she said.
"They are being penalized for where they live.
"With everything now so dependent on cell phones, computer technology and the internet, to lack that service, well, it's devastating to the town, the residents and the businesses.
"It's just ridiculous."
Ms. Pittman estimates that 100 of the 120 households in the town could have been potential new clients of Bell Aliant.
Bell Aliant spokesman Mark Duggan said the towns were investigated as potential recipients but missed out because of the company's financial analysis.
Bird Cove's case was given a further blow because of its distance from the "central office", a core piece of infrastructure in the transmission of high speed internet located in Plum Point.
"The further you go out from the 'central office' the weaker the signal gets and distance added to the overall cost [at Bird Cove]," he said.
"Our ultimate goal was to put forward a proposal that provided as service to as many households with the available funds.
"We had to take into account the money available and the cost per household."
Mr. Duggan added that it would require another round of similar funding from the provincial government if it was to expand on the number of towns in its original proposal.
"It's the same issue as we've had before, we have to be able to make a business case," he said.
That response doesn't fly with Mr. May.
"There has to be more to it than just a business case," he said.
"If Bell Aliant can't make the business case then the government needs to come up with another subsidy.
"We've got telephones but I would argue that internet is as critical as telephone, it's just as critical as the road is in many cases. It's a part of basic infrastructure and every community should have access to it."
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