EastLink launches Rural Wireless Internet in Caledonia under Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia Initiative

    CALEDONIA, NS, May 29 /CNW/ - Beginning today, residents and business
owners in the community of Caledonia in Nova Scotia's Queens County will have
access to EastLink Rural Wireless Internet under the Government of Nova
Scotia's Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative. EastLink is completing
upgrade construction on four towers in the Caledonia area which will deliver
Internet service to approximately 1000 customers.
    "We're excited to launch our fixed wireless Internet service in Caledonia
because we know customers in the area have been looking forward to access to
high speed Internet," said Dan McKeen, co-CEO of EastLink. "This is the first
of a series of community-by-community roll-outs that EastLink will be
completing between now and December 2009."
    EastLink will deliver rural wireless Internet to communities in
Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis, Kings, and Hants
counties utilizing Motorola Canopy technology. The Wireless Internet signal is
transmitted to a Wireless Antenna located outside of customer's home or
business. An ethernet cable then connects the Subscriber Module to a computer
or home network. Rural Wireless Internet is available to business and
residential customers and is priced at $46.95.
    In December, EastLink was awarded the contract to deliver high speed
Internet services to eight counties in Nova Scotia. Broadband service is
currently unavailable to more than 200,000 Nova Scotians, 93,500 dwellings,
213 schools, and 5,600 businesses - the Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia
initiative will close this gap completely.
    This broadband service is made available under the provincial
government's Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative. When the initiative
is completed at the end of 2009, the entire province will have high-speed
Internet access, making Nova Scotia one of the most connected jurisdictions in
North America. This will give our schools, businesses and families the
opportunity to connect and compete worldwide. Funding partners in Caledonia
are the Province of Nova Scotia, the Government of Canada and EastLink.

    For more information on the service that EastLink is providing in the
Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia program or to determine if your home or
business falls within the coverage area, please visit
http://eastlink.ca/rural_broadband

    About EastLink

    Operating from its headquarters in Halifax, Nova Scotia, EastLink is the
fifth largest cable company in Canada and was the first to offer customers
local telephone service over a state-of-the-art digital network. EastLink is
one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies with more than 800 employees who
provide a range of communications, entertainment & advertising services to
residential, business and public sector customers across the Atlantic
Provinces. For more information on EastLink products and services, please
visit www.eastlink.ca.

For further information: Paula Sibley, EastLink, [phone], Fax:
[phone], [e-mail]