The Ontario Government announced on June 3 that it will invest $150 million in the construction and build-out of broadband and cellular infrastructure for the province’s rural communities.

As much as 12 percent of Ontario’s population lives in areas of the province—mostly rural and remote communities—that either have no access or have insufficient access to reliable broadband and cellular connections. The need to develop the infrastructure to serve those communities has been highlighted by stay-at-home directives initiated by the government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government aims to use the funding in the Improving Connectivity in Ontario (ICON) program to partner with local and national businesses and generate a total investment of $500 million in the province’s cellular technology. It will invite telecom companies, municipal governments, First Nation communities and non-profits to submit proposals this summer. The province will fund a portion of each approved project.

"As we carefully restart the economic engine of Canada, every region and every community will play a role in bringing jobs and prosperity back to our province," said Premier Doug Ford. "By investing in reliable broadband and cellular service, we are helping to create greater opportunity for our families, farmers and small business owners in rural and remote areas of this great province."

The ICON program funding announced earlier this week is part of an investment of $315 million the province is making over a period of five years to enhance access to cellular and broadband networks for unserved and underserved communities. The province expects that funding to supplement investments from the private sector, and create as much as $1 billion worth of economic development.

The ICON program is one of several initiatives to expand access to mobile broadband and high-speed Internet services that are already underway across the province. Since May 2019, the province has worked with the Eastern Ontario Regional Network to leverage $213 million to virtually eliminate cellular dead zones in Eastern Ontario.

Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology has used $190 million of government funding to leverage broadband project investments across such Southwestern Ontario communities as Dufferin County, Caledon, Windsor, Chatham-Kent, and Oxford and Lambton counties.

The province has also invested in projects to improve connectivity in Northern Ontario. One will connect five remote Matawa-member First Nation communities.

“The launch of the broadband and cellular infrastructure program is a vital step in addressing the market gaps that have left too many rural communities behind,” said Allan Thompson, chair of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association. “We have long advocated that this is an essential service, critical to our local economies and for accessing healthcare and education. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that now is the time for governments and the private sector to work together to find solutions for the patchwork of connectivity across our province.”