High-speed internet on the way
Province makes $4-billion promise to expand coverage in Eastern Ontario by 2025
Leaders in Eastern Ontario are welcoming the province’s plan to move ahead with a $4-billion broadband expansion project that aims to provide every resident with access to reliable, high-speed internet by the end of 2025.
The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN), along with the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and the Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus (EOMC), lauded Ontario’s investment as a step forward in connecting rural and underserved communities with access to fast and dependable internet in a press release issued Tuesday.
According to the provincial government, the $4-billion project, part of its Ontario Connects program, will “help lay the foundation to ensure everyone in Ontario has access to reliable high-speed internet.”
Peterborough County Warden and Douro-Dummer Mayor J. Murray Jones chairs EORN, an organization that has pushed for increased connectivity across Eastern Ontario — particularly in rural communities — for more than a decade.
EORN developed a proposed concept of providing broadband speeds of one gigabit to households throughout Eastern Ontario to ensure acrossthe-board access to ultrafast internet.
The organization lobbied the Ontario government to incorporate its one-gigabit model into the province’s broadband expansion plan, according to Jones.
It wasn’t adopted, but Jones is hopeful that the province’s latest strategy will address the needs of all area residents, regardless of where they live or how close they are to a large city centre.
“We’re delighted that the province is putting this much money into it and we’re going to be monitoring the results of the program very closely while still promoting the concept of going to a one-gigabit solution for everybody,” Jones said.
“The bottom line is we still want everybody to get the fastest internet possible. So whatever system the province ends up going with to achieve that, we totally support it.”
As the demand for internet grows, the need to provide highspeed access increases with it, he said.
From Zoom meetings to virtual doctor visits, internet access is becoming increasingly important to the average person, and where they live shouldn’t determine the quality of internet service that they receive, Jones said.
For some county residents, he added, fast and reliable internet still isn’t a reality.
“We can’t be leaving those people out just because they happen not to live in a populated area,” Jones said.
Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, chair of the EOMC, commended EORN’s work in demonstrating the “economic value of connecting our communities with future proof, gig-speed internet.”
“We are hopeful that Ontario Connects and federal funding programs will ultimately help deliver this level of service to our communities,” Therrien stated in the release.
Along with championing improved internet access, EORN is working to strengthen cellular service for residents living in rural communities across Eastern Ontario, including Peterborough County.
The region’s wireless infrastructure is currently being upgraded and expanded as part of EORN’s Cell Gap Project, a $300-million initiative to bolster the capacity and coverage of cell networks.
The project, set to wrap up in the next few years, is being funded by the province, the federal government and local municipalities.
Rogers Communications, contracted by EORN, has spent $150 million to bring Eastern Ontario closer to reaching near-complete cell coverage.
Through a $175-million public-private collaboration, the Eastern Ontario Regional Network also helped to bring improved internet access to 423,000 homes and businesses — nearly 90 per cent of Eastern Ontario — between 2010 and 2014.