The five projects all fall under the governments’ joint $1.2 billion investment to connect rural households in Ontario to high-speed internet
Following an announcement about a joint $1.2 billion investment from the federal and Ontario governments to fund high-speed internet expansions across the province, the two governments highlighted multiple projects receiving funding.
The five projects highlighted across several announcements on August 6th total to over $983 million and will fund the rollout of high-speed internet to the following areas:
- Over 11,200 rural households in northwestern Ontario — $148 million
- 90,124 rural households in eastern Ontario — $362 million
- Up to 52,866 rural households in central Ontario — $230 million
- Almost 26,000 rural households in the Golden Horseshoe — $73 million
- More than 39,000 rural households in northeastern Ontario — $170 million
All these projects fall under the joint federal-provincial agreement to support large-scale, fibre-based projects that aims to bring high-speed internet access “to all corners of the province by 2025.”
Additionally, the investment will move Ontario almost 40 percent of the way to its target to achieve 100 percent connectivity for all regions in the province by the end of 2025.
Across Canada, over 890,000 rural and remote households are set to get connected as a result of federal investments. The government says that 175,000 households were connected at the end of March 2021 through federally funded internet projects. By the end of the year, more than 435,000 households will be connected to high-speed internet.
Source: ISED, (2), (3), (4), (5)