The Western Ontario Wardens' Caucus (WOWC) is ensuring that its efforts to bring ultra-high-speed internet across the region is on the Province's radar at the Association of Municipalites of Ontario conference in Niagara Falls.
WOWC updated Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Brad Duguid about the project, which aims to address the region's long-term readiness as the demand for connectivity grows.
The Caucus delegation thanked Minister Duguid for his support thus far, as the project tries to pull together nearly $189 million in provincial and federal funding. Because of the early election call, the federal commitment could be delayed by as much as six months.
The balance for the $287 million project will come from municipal and other public and private sector partners.
"The internet is constantly evolving and changing – and requiring more and more speed, bandwidth and reliability," said WOWC Chair, Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope. "It's imperative that our region has the fibre optic foundation needed to access a connected global economy and to deliver effective public services."
SWIFT will connect to and build on existing fibre networks to create a regional fibre backbone that is closer to customers. This will facilitate improved local access to 1G service for the entire region, using a combination of public and private funding.
"Our role will be to direct public funding to address the
gaps in broadband infrastructure that are leaving some communities behind, because the market cannot meet their needs alone," said Gerry Marshall, Warden of Simcoe County and Chair of the SWIFT committee.
The public funding will trigger private investment from ISPs, who will continue to own and operate their networks and deliver services directly to customers. WOWC is committed to working with local and national providers to meet communities' broadband needs.
Once the network is built, a dedicated service fee will be reinvested into expanding fibre connectivity to everyone. This self-funding model will help the region keep pace with ever-changing demand and needs.
An external, third-party review by Dr. Reza Rajabiun, a Ryerson University researcher with national expertise in broadband infrastructure and competition policy, has endorsed SWIFT's approach to building and funding the network.
About the Western Ontario Wardens' Caucus and SWIFT
WOWC is a not-for-profit organization comprised of the heads of council from 15 rural municipalities in western Ontario. The SWIFT project will serve an area of more than 3.5 million represented by WOWC, as well as the Region of Niagara and the cities of Orillia and Stratford, who have joined the project. The project is also seeking to work closely with First Nations communities in western Ontario to make sure that they too benefit from the project.
