Bruce and Grey County's rural internet dead zones might be getting a little more connectivity with a recently announced cash download from the provincial and federal governments.
In a news release issued on Friday, the ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs announced an $11 million investment earmarked for bringing high-speed internet access to 6,100 homes, farms, and businesses in Bruce and Grey Counties by the end of this year.
Of that, $5 million, split between the province and feds, will go to support construction of broadband infrastructure in Grey County intended to service more than 1,800 homes, farms, and businesses in Rockford, Chatsworth, Williamsford, Holland Centre, Dornoch, Cruickshank, Springmount, Leith, and Annan by November according to the news release.
The contracts for the new projects were awarded by Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT), which is a non-profit regional broadband project that was initiated by the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus to subsidize the construction of high-speed broadband networks across Southwestern Ontario.
There are already construction projects underway to bring high-speed internet to 1,200 homes in Grey County and 1,400 homes in Bruce County. The recently announced funding would be for additional projects.
Both The Town of The Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands councils have launched their own taskforces dedicated to bringing high-speed internet to the more rural hamlets within their municipalities. The boundaries for both municipalities cover a large geographic area with smaller villages and rural spaces connecting them.
None of the Grey County areas included in the most recent provincial/federal funding announcement fall within the borders of Grey Highlands or The Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains has created the Rural Access to Broadband Internet Technology (RABIT) task force, which has been meeting since 2020. At the latest meeting on Feb. 17, 2022, the task force received a slide deck from the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure, which estimated that as of Jan. 2022, up to 700,000 households and businesses in Ontario do not have access to minimum service levels of high-speed internet (50/10 megabits per second).
According to the same slide deck, the province has spent $63.7 million on a partnership with the federal government and SWIFT for better connectivity in Southwestern Ontario. Combined with federal dollars and contributions from the private sector, that jumps to $255 million to bring high-speed internet to more than 58,000 households and businesses in Southwestern Ontario through SWIFT.
