Rural Connections Broadband Program (Rural Connections)

The Rural Connections Broadband Program is expanding broadband service for rural residents and businesses. The resulting projects are turning miles into milliseconds. Watch video clips from rural employers and residents explaining what broadband means to them.

Since launching Rural Connections in 2007, the Government of Ontario has partnered with rural municipalities on 54 high-speed Internet infrastructure projects.

The results are impressive.

Already, 1/2 million rural residents and businesses have access to broadband service thanks to projects completed by March 31, 2012. This number will grow to 550,000 as Rural Connections projects currently under construction come online in early 2013. This number will further increase to over one million when a related project, the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, completes its construction phase in 2014.

The Rural Connections Broadband Program has invested $31.4 million in 54 rural broadband projects since June, 2007. The telecom sector responded to this investment in rural broadband and commonly took on up to 2/3 of the cost of each municipal project … investing $2 for every $1 invested by the province. Municipal governments co-ordinated the projects and in some cases, made financial investments in the projects.

The following tables show which rural municipalities participated in the Rural Connections Broadband program and what stage each project is at.

Projects Announced: June 6, 2007

Location	Approved Provincial Funding	People Served	Businesses Served	Project Status
Grey, County of	$500,000	7000	300	Completed
Dufferin, County of	$995,532	12679	1915	Completed
Durham, Regional Municipality of	$262,000	4500	195	Completed
Elgin, County of	$286,667	15000	1800	Completed
North Glengarry, Township of	$42,150	950	77	Completed
Haliburton, County of	$37,600	7100	945	Completed
Kawartha Lakes, City of	$243,378	23100	1360	Completed
Milton, Town of	$480,600	6535	390	Completed
Huron, County of	$850,000	7600	2000	Completed
Kingston, City of	$480,000	7715	1000	Completed
Dawn-Euphemia, Township of	$500,000	25594	250	Completed
Lanark, County of	$233,333	9973	1561	Completed
Leeds & Grenville, United Counties of	$259,210	10297	477	Completed
Perth, County of	$850,000	5000	400	Completed
Peterborough, County of	$1,000,000	18000	775	Completed
Hastings, County of	$100,000	16000	120	Completed
South Glengarry, Township of	$548,743	1810	84	Completed
Georgina, Town of	$723,658	20646	166	Completed

 

Projects Announced: November 28, 2008

Location	Approved or Final Provincial Funding	People Served	Businesses Served	Project Status
Bancroft, Town of	$144,113	1741	45	Completed
Frontenac, County of	$789,078	7921	450	Completed
Greater Madawaska, Township of	$230,413	2221	65	Completed
Grey, County of	$1,000,000	8983	159	Completed
Haliburton, County of	$1,000,000	18358	107	Completed
Halton Hills, Town of	$397,038	11526	150	Completed
Kawartha Lakes, City of	$465,120	5637	564	Completed
Laurentian Hills, Town of	$83,255	540	18	Completed
Middlesex, County of	$1,000,000	41414	3451	Completed
Northumberland, County of	$976,833	31600	1200	Completed
Ramara, Township of	$378,333	7500	80	Completed
Simcoe, County of	$1,000,000	17805	601	Completed
Smith- Ennismore-Lakefield	$1,000,000	5385	175	Completed
South Glengarry, Township of	$299,798	5275	80	Completed
South Stormont, Township of	$72,479	536	17	Completed

 

Projects Announced: June 19, 2009

Location	Approved Provincial Funding	People Served	Businesses Served	Project Status
Bruce, County of	$1,000,000	1750	85	In progress
Essex, County of	$1,000,000	8028	364	In progress
Hastings, County of	$452,000	5614	326	In progress
Lanark, County of	$631,658	8480	223	In progress
Laurentian Valley, Township of	$700,908	18000	600	Completed
Lennox and Addington, County of	$621,793	10042	480	Completed
McNab/Braeside, Township of	$329,106	5000	150	Completed
Norfolk, County of	$1,000,000	18158	75	Completed
North Frontenac, Township of	$73,142	4384	40	Completed
Oxford, County of	$988,333	34918	2839	Completed
Prescott and Russell, United Counties	$898,610	4500	450	Completed
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, United Counties of	$521,458	12578	540	Completed
Wellington, County of	$1,000,000	36708	554	Completed

 

Projects Announced: February 1, 2011

Location	Approved Provincial Funding	People Served	Businesses Served	Project Status
Whitchurch-Stouffville, Town of	$262,967	3,272	239	Deferred
Brant, County of	$806,010	15,580	1200	Completed
Tiny, Township of	$688,167	5,976	27	Completed
Tillsonburg, Town of	$487,167	80	600	Completed
St. Clair, Township of	$100,000	3,315	879	In progress
Durham, Regional Municipality of	$1,000,000	14,614	NA	Deferred
Amherstburg, Town of	$243,322	200	2	Completed
Kingsville, Town of	$247,142	3,463	126	Completed
Lakeshore, Town of	$812,874	14,827	344	Completed

Select Map of Broadband Expansion to see the areas affected by the preceding Rural Connections projects and the Eastern Ontario Regional Network project.

Excel Spreadsheets

Schedule 2 Gap Analysis, Schedule 4 Cost Summary

Rural Connections Broadband Program - Maps

Click on this link to view the maps for each country