WOODSTOCK, NB – Barrett Xplore has been tapped by the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) to provide broadband access to more than one million residents across eastern Ontario.
As part of EOWC’s $170 million dollar regional broadband project, Barrett Xplore Inc., through its Xplornet brand, will roll out a 1.5 Mbps package for $69.99 per month plus an upfront one-time cost that is dependent upon contract length. Starting in 2012, Barrett’s new 4G network will be available in the region which will be capable of speeds up to 25 Mbps using high-throughput satellites.
"With this first EOWC broadband deployment, the wait for affordable broadband for many eastern Ontarians is over", said Barrett Xplore CEO, John Maduri, in the announcement. "With the new lower prices and reduced up-front costs for new customers we think that there will be significant interest across the region. There is nothing more exciting to us than to work with local agencies that are committed to making affordable rural broadband a reality. The Wardens in Eastern Ontario deserve tremendous credit for what they have accomplished."
The EOWC region is an area of more than 50,000 square kilometers, extending from Northumberland County and the City of Kawartha Lakes in the west to the Quebec border, and north through Renfrew County, but excludes the City of Ottawa. The Wardens’ Caucus represents more than one million people and thousands of businesses across the 11 counties and 2 single tier municipalities in the region.
"Today’s announcement is a major step forward in the creation of our new ultra high-speed broadband network we call EORN (Eastern Ontario Regional Network)”, said EOWC chair J. Murray Jones. “The availability of affordable high-speed internet services via satellite has been one of our key goals; particularly for those homes and businesses where the only other option was dial-up.”
The Governments of Canada and Ontario will jointly provide two-thirds of the total eligible costs of the project, to a maximum combined contribution of $110 million or $55 million each towards the $170 million cost of EORN.
