QUEBEC CITY and BRUCE COUNTY — On Tuesday and Wednesday, the governments of Canada, Quebec and Ontario announced more rural broadband projects, funded through either the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed program or Ontario’s Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) initiative, with a total value of $58.85 million, including $51.43 million in government funding.
The Quebec projects include:
- $31.7 million in Canada-Quebec joint funding for Cogeco to deploy high-speed Internet services to 4,340 homes in 22 communities in the Haut-Saint-François regional county municipality (RCM) and the Val-Saint-François RCM in the Estrie region by September 2022. The total value of the project is $34.8 million. Cogeco will be doing the work.
- $18.44 million in funding from the federal and Quebec governments for Bell to bring high-speed broadband to 2,560 homes in 10 communities in the Domaine-du-Roy RCM and the Fjord-du-Saguenay RCM in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region by September 2022. The total value of the project is $21.65 million. Bell will be doing the work.
The Ontario projects include:
- $909,000 in funding through SWIFT for HuronTel to deliver high-speed broadband service to 128 homes and businesses in the township of Huron-Kinloss and the municipality of South Bruce. The start of construction on the project was announced yesterday and is expected to be completed by the spring of 2022. The total value of the project is $1.3 million.
- $384,000 in SWIFT funding for Wightman Telecom to bring high-speed Internet service to 226 homes and businesses in the village of Formosa in Bruce County by spring 2022. Beginning of construction was also announced yesterday for this project, valued at $1.1 million.
