It’s true: if you start to build it, they will come. That is what’s happened with the broadband wireless Internet build-out project in Muskoka.

Once word got out that public money, and a lot of it, was being spent to provide the service across the region, privately owned companies like Bell and Rogers decided to jump on board.

And to be honest, it’s a good thing they finally realized there is a market in Muskoka for wireless high-speed services, because otherwise many places in our area would still be waiting.

Competition in this case seems to be the driving force behind progress.

And usually with competition there is a certain amount of battling between competitors, which right now is causing the customer to be put in the middle, with inadequate service.

The idea of this project was to provide broadband service to those who currently don’t have it, so it leaves us to wonder why our money is being spent to provide service in areas where it already exists.

Yes, it is true that without public money coming to the rescue, the private sector would not have shown any interest, but now it seems the public aspect of the project is racing to try to keep up.

When the private sector came up to the plate, the dynamics of the project changed. Why wasn’t a new game plan plotted out, we wonder? Right now everyone seems to be going after the same piece of the pie. That’s almost as frustrating as the long wait.

We give kudos to the project for recently connecting rural areas such as Gravenhurst to broadband services, but this endeavour needs to be more closely monitored. With public dollars at stake, we need to make sure the game plan is most beneficial to the customers and taxpayers.

KF