Canada and Ontario repeat broadband announcements despite persistent delays

The governments of Canada and Ontario announced on Monday a broadband rollout project covering northern Ontario. For the executive director of the Blue Sky Economic Growth Corporation, it is old news. “I’m concerned because the very same announcement was made back in July of 2021 initially. It’s been announced four other times since,” Susan Church told The Wire Report. “It’s a great announcement but I’m just very hopeful that we will actually see the project start and we haven’t seen that yet.” The two governments will put up a total of $97 million for the infrastructure deployment. The funding will go to ROCK Networks, a subsidiary of PomeGran group. The project will see the internet being installed in more than 60 communities along the north shore of Lake Huron between Sudbury, Huron Shores and Sault Ste. Marie. It will serve 18,600 households, including 2,500 Indigenous homes. PomeGran is putting up a further $75 million towards the project. The rollout will cover 50,000 square kilometres. Part of the reason for the delay in fully implementing the deployment is that municipalities and First Nations communities do not have the resources to contribute to the plan, Church said. She added that smaller internet service providers have been averse to upgrade their networks until the plan is truly underway. “Once we see shovels in the ground, that will finally put us at rest,” she averred. Joe Hickey is president of ROCK Networks. His firm has been involved in the planning of the rollout for several years. He acknowledges the process takes time but says it is necessary. “It’s a long pursuit, we’re at it four plus years but these kinds of large scale projects do take time to materialize and get across the finish line,” he said in an interview. “I guess we’re at the pre-start finish line, so we’re at the starting line again to get the project up and running and service the homes from Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury and Manitoulin Island.” The project will involve fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and can provide speeds far above the 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 10 Mbps upload mandated by the federal government. The network should last 50 years and speeds can be increased as demanded, Hickey stated. Blue Sky has long lamented the digital divide that affects northern Ontario. Every year it releases a report looking at the broadband situation in the region. The deal is part of a long-term partnership signed between the Ontario and Canadian governments on July 29, 2021. The agreement seeks to have more than a quarter of a million Ontarians linked up by 2025. Both sides are putting in funding, to a grand total of $1.2 billion. Canada is on track to fulfill its goal of having 98 per cent of Canadians online by 2026, the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development stated. All Canadians should be connected by 2030. Ontario expects universal connectivity by 2025. – Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Canada and Ontario repeat broadband announcements despite persistent delays

Telecom | June 28, 2024

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Canada and Ontario repeat broadband announcements despite persistent delays

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