Infrastructure Bank earmarks additional $1B for rural broadband

The Liberal government is doubling the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s funding for broadband projects to $2 billion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday, though he offered no updates on the delayed Universal Broadband Fund. The infrastructure bank money is part of a three-year $10-billion plan announced Thursday. Of that $10 billion, $2 billion will go towards connecting 750,000 homes and small businesses. Infrastructure Bank board chair Michael Sabia said at a press conference Thursday the bank would move quickly following the announcement. “Our plan is to have investments made, announced and made through the course of 2020, in other words before the end of the year.” He also said the Infrastructure Bank would consider increasing the allocated amount. “If in our work with carriers and ISPs, as we pursue this, there are more good ideas and more things that we can do, we have the capital and we will bring more capital to the table,” Sabia said. The 2019 budget promised that the bank would “seek” to invest $1 billion in broadband projects over the next decade, and leverage “at least” another $2 billion from private sector capital. Infrastructure Canada spokespeople didn’t answer questions about whether the government now expects the private sector to contribute more than $2 billion. The Canada Infrastructure Bank was given a $35-million budget when it was set up in 2017, and the broadband funding announced Thursday is part of that existing budget, a spokesperson confirmed. The bank’s mandate is to invest in infrastructure projects that generate revenue, are in the public interest and attract private capital, according to its website. “The idea was that if we were to put forward public money focused on creating growth opportunities for communities, for sectors across the country while creating jobs, investors would bring in significant amounts of capital as well,” Trudeau said at the press conference. “We saw this as a new way of leveraging public money and private money to achieve tremendous benefits for Canadians in creating jobs and creating opportunities.” The $2 billion in funding is in addition to the $1.7 billion Universal Broadband Fund also promised in the 2019 federal budget. Of that $1.7 billion, $85 million was a top-up for the ongoing Connect to Innovate Fund, and $600 million earmarked for low-earth-orbit satellite projects. The fund, which Innovation, Science and Economic Development initially aimed to launch in the spring, is now delayed and has yet to open for applications. ISED and Infrastructure Canada didn’t respond to questions about how the Infrastructure Bank program will differ from Connect to Innovate or whether ISED will be the department administering it. ISED is currently administering the UBF, though the program falls under the portfolio of Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef. Monsef promised to accelerate the government’s response to rural connectivity in late April in an interview with The Wire Report; she then told an industry conference in early June the Universal Broadband Fund would open for applications in the “coming days.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t answer questions about the reason it still hasn’t launched, or whether the UBF will be delayed further as a result of the Infrastructure Bank announcement. “We will continue to work with the minister of rural economic development, with the minister of innovation, science and industry to move forward as rapidly as we can to create more connectivity,” Trudeau said. Internet advocacy group Open Media executive director Laura Tribe said in a press release the announcement was good news, but that it “leaves us with more questions than answers.” She noted that this means there is now a third federal funding program for rural broadband starting up, in addition to the UBF and the CRTC’s $750-million fund. Tribe said as a result “we have three different pools of money with no clear plan for who’s tackling what, or when. For those without adequate Internet, this leaves them no closer to understanding when they can expect to see change. The federal government needs to put forward a national connectivity strategy, with clear milestones and outlines of who will be connected when.” — Reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Infrastructure Bank earmarks additional $1B for rural broadband

News | October 1, 2020

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Infrastructure Bank earmarks additional $1B for rural broadband

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