By Ahmad Hathout
QUEBEC CITY – The Quebec government’s budget, released Tuesday, is allocating an additional $108.7 million over five years to improve internet and cellular connectivity in the province and sets new connectivity objectives including fibre access to all homes in the province.
The majority of the funding, $75 million, is being allocated over the next two years to cellular initiatives, with a goal to launch the first calls for projects to improve coverage and convert the majority of the cell network to 5G technology. Gilles Belanger, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance, told Cartt last year that cell coverage was going to be a focus this year.
The rest of the money is being split into two initiatives. The first is a $7-million investment to ensure reliability of a submarine cable connecting the Gaspe peninsula and the Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago.
The second is a $26.5-million investment to extend access to high-speed satellite internet to very remote communities not covered by Operation High Speed (OHS), a 2021 initiative that aimed – using over $1 billion invested from the province and the federal government – to connect the entire province to high-speed internet by the end of September 2022.
Under OHS, roughly 30 internet service providers received financial assistance to connect 250,000 homes, or 6 per cent of households, left without high-speed internet.
While the government said it accomplished the coverage goal of OHS using different technologies including satellite, it is now moving to build out the physical infrastructure required to connect the rest of the province’s homes – 112,000 as of December 31 – to a wired solution. It said it expects this to be done by the end of this year.
As such, the province is setting its next, ultimate goal of providing access to all homes with fibre and to complete cell coverage throughout the province.
“To achieve these objectives, the government must mobilize large amounts of private and public capital,” the budget notes. “Attaining these objectives will require concerted, coordinated and structured efforts from the government and private sector telecommunications companies and institutional investors.
“To this end, the government will continue discussions with industry stakeholders in 2023 to identify the best approach for achieving its new connectivity objectives,” it added.
The government also said it will embark on studies to achieve its connectivity objectives.
Screenshot of Minister of Finance Eric Girard delivering his budget speech on Tuesday.
