The pursuit of improved cell coverage in Eastern Ontario took a massive leap forward Friday as a contract has been awarded for the upgrades.
The Eastern Ontario Regional Network has announced that Rogers Communications has won the bid to move forward with the Cell Gap Project.
The Federal and Provincial governments are putting in $71 million each to go with a $150 million investment from Rogers and $10 million from the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus.
The massive project is aimed at closing cellular coverage gaps in Eastern Ontario by upgrading and building new cell towers to improve 5G coverage in small and rural communities right up to larger cities. The major steps in the project involve upgrading the 300-plus existing towers in eastern Ontario and then building 300 more new towers.
According to Rogers the project, with an approximate cost of $300 million, will create 3,000 jobs. A release from Rogers says that 99% of the region’s demand area will have access to mobile voice calling service, 95% of the region’s demand area will have access to better mobile internet connection and 85% of the region’s demand area will have access to high-definition services that allow HD video streaming.
Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison said the progress on the Cell Gap project is good but he wants to know when results can be expected.
“What can I expect in year one? What can I expect in year two and three? So that I know that I’m moving towards the goal and the objective is to improve the level of service for all people in Ontario.”
Harrison said that service in some areas of Quinte West such as Trenton and Frankford can be unreliable. The City of Quinte West has committed approximately $400,000 to the project.
The project is expected to begin this spring and has a projected end date of 2025.
