CHARLOTTETOWN – Almost 30,000 rural residents across Prince Edward Island will soon have access to expanded high speed broadband Internet coverage through a combination of fibre and fixed wireless technologies provided by both Bell Canada and Xplornet Communications.
The federal government said Friday that it will invest over $33.1 million in this project under the Rural and Northern Communities stream of the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan. The PEI government will provide over $3.5 million, while Bell Canada and Xplornet together will contribute over $37 million. Funding will only be disbursed to Bell Canada and Xplornet as performance and construction based milestones are met, and this will be closely monitored by the province, reads the news release.
"This is historic news for rural Islanders who for many years now have sought access to fast, reliable internet”, said provincial premier Wade MacLauchlan, in the release. “This project will provide rural businesses with a better ability to compete on national and international stages, and will improve quality of life for residents, families and especially students. Once complete this project will make PEI the national leader in terms of province-wide Internet and will allow our province to meet the CRTC benchmark for speed by 2021."
The first phase is expected to begin this year and the project is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023.
"As the largest investor in communications infrastructure in Prince Edward Island and throughout Atlantic Canada, Bell is proud to provide Islanders with expanded access to Canada's most advanced broadband network and to the economic, community and social development opportunities that high-speed Internet access enables," added Bell Canada’s vice chair Atlantic, Glen LeBlanc.
In its own release, Xplornet said that the investment plan will allow it to deliver 5G services to over 20,000 rural homes in over 300 communities in the province using its licensed 3500 MHz spectrum. The company added that it will deploy fibre as well as a 5G-ready wireless upgrade to its existing network using hybrid fibre wireless technology to deliver download speeds of up to 100 Mbps as early as next year.
"At Xplornet, we are proud to fight for rural Canadians," said CEO Allison Lenehan, in that release. "5G technology is not just about urban Canada – we believe strongly that 5G can enable amazing broadband services in rural Canada."
