Beaver Staff
Tamworth is poised to be more connected digitally following an announcement by Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma on Monday.
On behalf of the province, Surma touted an investment of $14.7 million in 13 high-speed internet and cellular projects across the province, which were submitted under the Improving Connectivity for Ontario program, also known as ICON.
The projects announced Monday will invest up to $7,665,318.24 for projects serving up to 8,122 households in Tamworth as well as Stirling-Rawdon, Tweed, Centre Hastings and Bancroft in the riding of Hastings-Lennox and Addington. This will account for over half of the households being served province-wide as a result of Monday’s announcement.
“This is another major step forward for our area and for all of eastern Ontario that has dealt with poor or non-existent high-speed connectivity for far too long,” said Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Daryl Kramp in a release. “It will make a real difference in people’s lives.”
Surma noted today that the innovative new procurement process, called Ontario Connects, announced a week ago, will help connect underserved and unserved communities across the province.
This new delivery model, led by Infrastructure Ontario, will start procurement this summer. In addition, construction of high-speed internet projects and reducing barriers to deploy broadband infrastructure will be enhanced through the Supporting Broadband and Infrastructure Expansion Act, 2021.
The plans underway will bring near-complete cellular coverage to Eastern Ontario through investments in the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) and the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project which, together, will add high-speed internet and cellular connectivity to an additional 71,000 households.