OTTAWA — The federal government announced yesterday it is providing more than $5.3 million in funding through its Universal Broadband Fund’s (UBF) rapid response stream for eight projects to bring high-speed Internet access to 1,662 households in rural Ontario.
Bell Canada, Golden Rural High Speed and HuronTel are the Internet service providers who are building the broadband networks and will provide access to customers.
The Ontario communities that will benefit from these UBF-funded broadband projects are Alberton, Bogies Beach, Burnt River, Caledon Village, Glen Orchard, Jerseyville, Juddhaven, Kinmount, Minett, Mount Pleasant, Port Carling, Port Sandfield and Tower Manor, according to the press release.
“We are proud to partner with the Government of Canada to provide residents in Alberton, Jerseyville, Port Carling, Minett, Juddhaven, Port Sandfield, Glen Orchard and Caledon Village with access to the fastest fibre home Internet speeds available,” said Bruce Furlong, senior vice-president of access engineering and deployment at Bell Canada, in the release.
According to a government backgrounder, the UBF funding for these Bell broadband projects is being allocated as follows:
- $69,200 to provide high-speed Internet access to 66 homes in Alberton
- $183,000 to connect 165 homes in Jerseyville
- $3.4 million to connect 1,042 homes in Glen Orchard, Juddhaven, Minett, Port Carling and Port Sandfield
- $209,800 to connect 39 homes in Caledon Village
HuronTel is receiving $339,113 in UBF funding to bring high-speed Internet access to 30 households in Bogies Beach, according to the backgrounder.
“HuronTel is pleased to now offer fibre optic broadband services to this previously underserved area around Bogies Beach,” said HuronTel general manager Ryan McClinchey, in the press release. “This project builds on HuronTel’s commitment to serve the residents and businesses in our small towns and rural communities with much-needed high-speed Internet.”
Cavan, Ont.-based Golden Rural High Speed appears to be the ISP that will provide high-speed Internet access to the communities of Burnt River, Kinmount, Mount Pleasant and Tower Manor.
The allocation of UBF funding for these projects, according to the government’s backgrounder, is as follows:
- $718,721 to deliver high-speed Internet access to 181 households in Burnt River and Kinmount
- $164,207 to connect 39 homes in Mount Pleasant
- $239,785 to connect 100 homes in Tower Manor
“We are very excited at Golden Rural High Speed, which has been serving our community since 2013, to expand our service offering to include fibre to the home. In our combined projects, we will be connecting almost 400 rural households, which would be cost prohibitive without the Universal Broadband Fund,” said Ryan Moore, CEO of Golden Rural High Speed, in the government’s press release.
No timelines for the projects were provided in the government’s press release. A Bell spokesperson informed Cartt.ca via email its projects are to be completed throughout this summer and fall. Neither Golden Rural High Speed nor HuronTel responded to our request for this information.
