QUEBEC CITY — As part of the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed initiative, the federal and Quebec governments today announced they are jointly providing $61.92 million in funding to Videotron for the deployment of high-speed Internet services to rural households in several communities in the province’s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Capitale-Nationale regions.
For the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean broadband project, Videotron will receive $42.22 million in combined funding from the two levels of government to deploy high-speed Internet services to 4,250 underserved households by September 2022. The total cost of this broadband project is $44.57 million, which includes a contribution from Videotron, who is undertaking the work.
According to a federal government press release, this project will target 35 communities in the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality (RCM), Domaine-du-Roy RCM, Fjord-du-Saguenay RCM and Maria-Chapdelaine RCM.
The other broadband project announced today, covering the Capitale-Nationale region around Quebec City, has a total cost of $21.7 million, which includes $19.7 million in joint Canada-Quebec funding plus Videotron’s contribution. The work on this project is also expected to be completed by Videotron by September 2022.
Upon completion, 5,320 households in the Capitale-Nationale region will have access to Videotron’s high-speed Internet services. According to a separate press release, the 22 rural communities targeted by this project are located in La Jacques-Cartier RCM, Portneuf RCM, Côte-de-Beaupré RCM, Charlevoix RCM, Charlevoix-Est RCM and the Quebec Metropolitan Community.
Both press releases say Videotron will take inventory over the next few weeks of the targeted regions to ensure no homes will be left without service.
