Friday David Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South, was joined by Bob Crate, Warden of Northumberland County, as he announced $45,000,000 in joint federal and provincial funding towards an innovative new initiative to deliver high-speed internet access to all households and businesses across Northumberland by the end of 2024, in partnership with Northumberland County and private sector partners.
Providing high-speed internet services across Northumberland’s hilly landscape and dispersed population is complex. Northumberland County has developed an innovative approach designed to meet the growing high-speed internet needs of residents, businesses, and public services. This approach brings together significant public funding and private capital investment to create a utility. This private sector-led utility will design and build a local fibre-to-the-home telecommunications network and then – over time – provide open, wholesale access to this network to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ISPs will use this network to deliver high-speed internet services to Northumberland residents and businesses. The network will be designed to deliver a minimum internet speed of 1 Gigabit per second (1 Gbps).
“In this day and age, a quick and reliable internet connection isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said MPP Piccini. “I’m thrilled that our government is investing $20 million, getting it done for Northumberland by delivering better and faster internet for everyone in our community.”
The funding announced today builds upon an existing relationship between Ontario and Canada. Both governments announced on July 29, 2021, their partnership to support large-scale, fibre-based projects that will provide high-speed Internet access to more than 280,000 rural and remote households across the province. This historic agreement was made possible by a joint federal-provincial investment totalling more than $1.2 billion.
“Residents and businesses have communicated that closing the gaps in internet connectivity in Northumberland must be a priority for all levels of government,” said Warden Crate. “Northumberland County is therefore proud to be introducing an innovative approach to expand high-speed internet across our community by the end of 2024. We thank the provincial and federal governments for the significant investments announced today, which will make this initiative possible. We look forward to working with our public and private sector partners to improve local connectivity.”
