New project plans to improve cell service in Eastern Ontario

By Mariia Khanenko

BELLEVILLE – The provincial government is committing $71 million to improve cellphone service in Eastern Ontario.

Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal made the announcement in Belleville on Monday.

The money will support a public-private partnership between the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and the Eastern Ontario Regional Network. EORN – a non-profit organization created by the wardens’ caucus to improve broadband internet access in Eastern Ontario – has proposed a $213 million project to improve both the reach and the quality of cellular data services in the region.

Lisa Severson, communications and stakeholder relations officer at EORN, says the organization is working with multiple federal ministries and parties to find federal funding for the project. After that, EORN will seek private investment.

The plan is to to launch the project by spring or summer next year, Severson told QNet News.

About a quarter of the areas in Eastern Ontario where there are homes, businesses and major roads do not have access to cellular services, according to EORN.

The lack of access is because rural areas don’t generate enough revenue for cell carriers to build adequate services, according to a press release from EORN and the wardens’ caucus. But the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has recently said that mobile and fixed broadband should be a basic service available to all Canadians, the press release notes.

The public-private project to expand cellular services in the region is expected to create 3,000 full-time-equivalent jobs over 10 years and result in $420 million in new business revenue, the press release says.