Small, rural communities in Wellington County will be getting much better Internet service in the near future.
A cooperative effort between the Federal and provincial governments will see them spend $180 million to bring ultra-high speed Internet to homes and businesses in southwestern Ontario.
That includes such municipalities as Mount Forest, Arthur and Palmerston, said Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield in making the local portion of the announcement Friday at 1 Stone Road along with Guelph MPP Liz Sandals.
The project will begin later this year and hopefully be completed in 2020.
The money is part of the SWIFT (Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology) project which will expand broadband by delivering fibre optic coverage to over 300 communities with populations less than 100,000. The program will eventually improve Internet access to 3.5 million people.
"The smaller communities in Canada need access to broadband and this is a step for southwestern Ontario to connect to broadband," Longfield said. "It's an investment."
Municipalities will also be expected to help fund the project.
Sandals recalled her days on the Upper Grand and Wellington County school boards, when getting proper Internet access to secondary schools in the rural parts of the county put those schools at a disadvantage when it came to learning possibilities and opportunities through the Internet.
"There's been an evolution to the public expecting that they can access services in a digital sort of way, particularly the young people," Sandals said. "Obviously if you don't have the high speed Internet access, then those technologies that people want to use just simply aren't available."
Both the public, institutional and private sector will all benefit from the improved Internet access.
"We're improving the connection between people, businesses and institutions," Sandals said.
"Three hundred communities will have better access to education, to economic development and to just being able to Skype with your grandkids," she said.
Longfield said it will also be a boost to the agriculture communities, allowing them to do more with technology on their farms.