Expanding Broadband and Cellular Service in Ontario

Wednesday, 4 November 2020 at 13:36

The Ontario Government is investing $1 billion over six years to improve and expand broadband and cellular access across the Province, specifically in rural areas, including Oxford County.

MINDEN - The Ontario Government is investing $1 billion over six years to improve and expand broadband cellular access across the Province.

This will help support rural areas of the Province, including Oxford County. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement in Minden today and says this funding will be used for shovel-ready projects starting in 2019-20, will create jobs, and connect underserved communities during COVID-19 and beyond.

"By providing high-speed broadband to underserved communities like Minden Hills, we will create good jobs, unlock new opportunities for businesses and people, and improve the quality of life for individuals and families. With the world online these days, if we are going to attract more investment to Ontario and compete in this highly competitive global marketplace, we need every part of our province connected with high-speed Internet."

The investment announced today doubles funding for the Improving Connectivity in Ontario (ICON) program, bringing the new total to $300 million. This program now has the potential to leverage more than $900 million in total partner funding to improve connectivity in areas of need across Ontario. As part of Ontario's broadband and cellular action plan, ICON is one of several provincial initiatives underway to improve connectivity across Northern, Eastern and Southwestern Ontario.

Over 1.4 million people in Ontario do not have broadband or cellular access, and as many as 12 per cent of households in Ontario, mostly in rural, remote or Northern areas, are underserved or unserved from the perspective of broadband, according to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) data.

Heart FM will be interviewing Ontario’s President of the Treasury Board and Minister Responsible for Digital Government and Data Transformation Peter Bethlenfalvy later today to find out exactly what this funding will be mean for rural residents in our region.

You can listen to the statement from Premier Doug Ford today below: