The target audience for a new rebate in Alberta may need the print version of their community newspaper to first learn that the satellite-facing program even exists.
Rebates worth up to $1,000 are available until March 31 for hardware and installation costs to connect certain households to low-Earth-orbit satellites for internet service.
The challenge is that the 10,000 or so rural and remote households that qualify have, by definition, severely limited or non-existent internet access, a rural media roundtable organized by the provincial government heard Thursday.
The eligible homes are in areas of Alberta deprived of traditional ground-based internet because of distance and topography, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish told about a dozen rural media representatives.
That makes community newspapers distributed along Alberta’s roads less travelled particularly important, he confirmed.
Glubish said major outlets have given the story little attention and “don’t want to talk to me about it. But I appreciate that it’s your readers who are going to be more interested in this anyways.”
The program draws from a joint federal-Alberta fund worth $755 million to blanket the province with broadband. The new rebate addresses rural and remote residents that fell between the cracks because — until now — reaching them hasn’t been affordable, practical or even possible, Glubish said.
The difference today is that satellites in low-Earth orbit have become widely available to internet providers and users in Alberta.
Earlier, the government would have had to entice satellite companies to expand their service, Glubish said.
“We knew they were going to expand here anyway, but it was going to cost us tens of millions of dollars to persuade them to come here first, rather than just allowing them to come here as they normally were going to. And that patience has paid off,” said Glubish, the UCP member representing Strathcona-Sherwood Park.
Alberta published a broadband strategy in January 2022 with the goal to hit 100 per cent connectivity by the end of this fiscal year.
The strategy said then that 67 per cent of rural Albertans and 80 per cent of the province’s Indigenous communities had unreliable internet access at federal target speeds.
But today, according to the minister’s office, the needle has moved dramatically.
An estimated 82.2 per cent of households in Alberta First Nations reserves have access to high-speed internet, up from just 19.6 per cent in 2019, the baseline cited in the strategy.
That represents an increase of about 8,400 on-reserve households, the ministry told The Macleod Gazette in an emailed follow-up to the roundtable.
Of all Alberta households, 98.2 per cent now have access to high-speed internet, said a news release on the rebate.
“I know it’s been a long time coming. We’ve been working hard on this for the last four years,” Glubish told the roundtable.
“But I think we’re coming to the tail-end of an important initiative, and it’s nice to see that we are getting close to achieving our goal of universal connectivity.”
A “significant portion” of federal-provincial funding has gone towards improving reliable, non-satellite internet in Indigenous communities, he said.
“If there are any First Nations communities that are not yet covered, then absolutely, yes, they would be eligible to participate in this rebate program,” he said.
Affordability remains an issue for some rural Albertans, Glubish acknowledged. Living the remote life can be expensive, and paying a premium for internet service is one of those higher costs.
But “the biggest barrier … is the upfront investment for the hardware and the installation. And that’s what this program addresses,” he said.
“So this will go a long way to helping anybody in a low-income scenario to be able to get their connection established.”
Connectivity keeps getting more important in the professional and personal lives of Albertans, Glubish said.
He pointed to education, employment, entrepreneurship, and medical and justice services as cornerstones of modern life that the internet has improved dramatically. “If you don’t have connectivity, your options are limited.”
Households that qualify for the rebate can purchase their satellite hardware and installation while the program is open, with eligible receipts dating from Aug. 11 of this year onward.
Hardware must be purchased from an authorized vendor to qualify. Rebates apply to satellite dishes, receiver kits and installation services and supplies. Receipts are submitted through an online portal.
Find out more at alberta.ca/alberta-satellite-rebate-program — assuming you have a way to connect to the internet.
“I think it’s super important to get this message out to our rural newspapers,” said roundtable participant Lisa Sygutek, president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association and the publisher and owner of the Crowsnest Pass Herald.
Sygutek also wanted to know how the rebate would be rolled out to Albertans who don’t have the connectively yet to apply or submit receipts online.
The ministry is working with organizations like Rural Municipalities of Alberta and with MLAs to share information on the rebate. It will monitor how effective its efforts are before looking at other communications measures, including direct mailing.
“Our goal is to try and make sure it’s very clear that anybody who is likely to be eligible for this will know that this is an option available to them,” Glubish said.
Copyright 2026, The Macleod Gazette. All rights reserved.
George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Macleod Gazette.