to replace the equipment, without carrying loans over an extremely long period of time. This had the effect that a market case could not be generated to gain shareholder (Bell Canada) approval to spend the limited capital funding to replace it with modern equipment. The original planned cost was $76 million. The CRTC cut the program to $67 million, eliminating a plan for local dial-up Internet access in small communities, and also removing Caller ID as part of the basic service objective within the Northwestel operating area. Many existing exchanges cannot support Caller ID, but the only reason to replace them was to provide this feature, therefore, the CRTC ruled that the cost was too high. In 2003, however, at the company's request, the CRTC reviewed the issue of local access to the Internet, found that other Internet service providers had not expanded service to unserved communities, and authorized Northwestel to provide the service, under the SIP program, to any small community that did not already have a local provider. An effort in 2002–2003 to have Caller ID covered under the program, in response to community demands for its safety features, was also refused. However, four fairly large communities were allowed to have the cost included under the program, since the CRTC decided the market conditions were favourable in those four locations. One of the key elements of the SIP program for Northwestel was the provision of new and improved service to customer premises. Numerous rural areas had no wireline service, and the few customers in those subdivisions with service had some form of wireless service, cellular when possible, manual radio telephone service elsewhere. Some customers could not use any wireless service, even satellite phones, due to their location in a gully with a hill to the south. The SIP program focused on providing wireline, where feasible, to these areas. As the program met these needs, existing customers served by party line service, or private lines with a long reach back to the central office, were next to be upgraded. (Such long lines had a resultant hum on the line caused by amplifiers. They also had low fax/modem speeds due to signal attenuation.) Finally, individual isolated customers requiring fixed radio link services were to be provided service. All three aspects — exchange replacement, long-distance route improvement and customer premises connections — were spread over the four-year phasing of the program