KAWARTHA LAKES, ON – Bell Aliant, Xplornet Communications and regional telco Nexicom will team up on a local access contract to provide more than 70,000 homes and businesses in northeastern Ontario with improved access to high-speed Internet.
The 6,100 square-kilometre area, which includes portions of the City of Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough County, and Northumberland County, is the eighth of several contracts to be awarded as part of the $170 million Eastern Ontario regional broadband project.
Bell Aliant will provide wired or DSL service to more densely populated areas, primarily around the lakes in both Peterborough County and the City of Kawartha Lakes, while Xplornet will extend access via wireless Internet by upgrading more than 30 existing structures and building three new sites. Nexicom will upgrade 27 of its existing sites in order to extend the reach of its wireless Internet access services, particularly in the eastern part of the zone. It will also provide a wired Internet access option to the community of Mount Pleasant, involving about 4 kilometres of new fibre optic cable.
"We are extremely pleased to announce this contract," said Mel Campbell, chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus (EOWC), in the announcement. "Each company provides a solution that complements the other. It demonstrates how using a mix of technologies and suppliers, we continue to make steady progress on our goal of expanding high-speed broadband Internet access across Eastern Ontario."
The combined solution, which is scheduled to be completed by Fall 2013, will provide customers with competitive pricing and a variety of broadband service packages ranging from 1.5 Mbps to more than 10 Mbps.
