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A company that received a $1-million contract from the province in 2008 to provide high-speed Internet service to rural parts of Halifax Regional Municipality is filing for bankruptcy.

Representatives for Omniglobe Networks Inc., a Montreal-based communications company, filed a notice of intention Tuesday with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada.

A spokesman for the province’s Economic and Rural Development Department said the province is aware that Omniglobe is trying to restructure and knows of only five cases of service disruptions as a result of that effort.

Omniglobe’s contract was to provide service to 1,300 civic addresses.

Toby Koffman said most customers still have service and the department believes everyone who lost service will ultimately have an opportunity to get it back. He would not say if that would be through Omniglobe or another company.

"The business case for providing service to rural areas of HRM was very strong and there’s a process that has to happen there now," he said. "But we believe when that process is completed that they will again have service if they don’t now."

Koffman said the bulk of the $1 million was for towers and land, which the province now owns. He said Omniglobe met all of the obligations in the 2008 contract and is therefore not subject to any penalties.

Calls to several numbers on the company’s website went unanswered while messages sent to the company’s email address bounced back. An email to a company spokesperson was not returned, nor was a phone message left at the home of the company’s chief financial officer.

An Omniglobe customer who contacted The Chronicle Herald complained of long waits on help lines that ultimately went unanswered.

Hants West MLA Chuck Porter, the Tories’ economic and rural development critic, was unaware of Omniglobe’s situation but said the government must do everything it can to provide access to high-speed Internet throughout Nova Scotia.

"This is something that’s not worked well across the province," said Porter, adding that he gets regular calls to his constituency office from people frustrated that they can’t get service.

Porter said access to high-speed Internet is vital for small-business growth. He called the process "a battle" and said it’s taking too long. Porter wants the province to penalize companies that aren’t living up to their agreements, and if it truly isn’t possible to provide service he would like to see people own up to it.

"If you can’t do it, say you can’t do it and tell us why."

But Koffman said even with the difficulties that exist in some areas, the overwhelming majority of people who once could not access high-speed Internet now have it.