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The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury (BWG) Office of Economic Development (OED) is pleased to announce that 86% of the community will have high-speed fibre Internet access by the end of 2023, fulfilling a key element of the Town’s COVID-19 Resiliency and Recovery Economic Development Strategy, approved in November 2020. Over the past few years, more than 2,500 rural homes and farms were connected to high-speed Internet, and more than 11,000 properties had their services improved, thanks to investments at the federal and provincial levels and the Town’s collaboration with service providers such as Bell, Vianet, CEGEN, Starlink and Rogers.
“We heard very clearly from our residents and business owners that many areas in town – particularly rural and agricultural areas – needed better Internet service, which was particularly challenging during the COVID pandemic, when people required high-speed service at home for remote working and school,” said Mayor James Leduc. “Our Office of Economic Development and our Council made it a priority to work with local Internet service providers to prioritize infrastructure upgrades and to service areas with low population density. Today, I am pleased that through this beneficial collaboration, the vast majority of the town will have access to high-speed Internet service by year’s end. I look forward to seeing everyone have full access to this critical technology over the next few years.”
Providing the infrastructure for high-speed Internet service to rural areas, with their relatively low density of homes and businesses, has been challenging. To address this, in 2021 the OED successfully submitted an Expression of Interest to become a host community for expanded broadband Internet service through Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN). As a result of this effort, CENGN announced a partnership with Rogers Communications for the development of broadband in the Holland Marsh, to include both BWG and neighbouring King Township.
SWIFT, the Southwestern Integrate Fibre Technology project, which is a municipally-lead, non-profit broadband expansion project has also been a significant contributor to the installation of high-speed Internet across Simcoe County.
“Since our initial $5 million investment and advocacy to make SWIFT a reality in its early days, the County has and will continue to promote greater access to rural broadband in communities across the region and South Western Ontario,” stated Simcoe County Warden, Basil Clarke. “This long-term and continuing commitment means that our residents have more access than ever to broadband. We’re excited about SWIFT and look forward to the completion of its commitments in Simcoe County.”
Parallel to this effort, the Bradford West Gwillimbury Office of Economic Development has been working collaboratively with Bell, Rogers and Vianet to identify under-serviced areas and identify opportunities to expand or enhance their existing networks. In two years, the following new Intranet infrastructure has been installed:
Bell
- Funded and installed 210 km of fibre to homes and businesses
- Expanded fibre to 10,770 homes (81% coverage)
- Will expand fibre to another 700 homes by the end of 2023 (85% coverage)
- Added Wireless Home Internet to 1,000 rural homes and businesses with no fibre
Vianet
- Installed 65 km of fibre to homes and businesses
- Expanded fibre to 750 new homes
CENGN
- Added 50 Mb service to areas of the Holland Marsh without Internet
- Added 17 new farming operations to the network
Rogers
- Recently awarded $171 million by the Government of Ontario to connect
- 189,000 homes across 100 municipalities by 2025. Work is underway on these installations, including in BWG.
“I am extremely gratified that our collaboration with local Internet Service Providers helped to spur so much investment in our growing community,” said Michael Disano, Manager of Economic Development. “The real beneficiaries of this investment are our homeowners and merchants, who will have so many more options for education and business. Council and staff recognize there is still much work to be done and we are doing everything we can to make BWG a fully connected community.”
For more information on the Town of BWG’s efforts to extend high-speed Internet, please visit www.gotobwg.ca/broadband.
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