Haliburton County held a special meeting of council yesterday to consider offering letters of support for proposals to be submitted by Xplornet and Bell. The Ontario government is offering funding under their ‘Improving Connectivity Program’ and local service providers want to submit an application for Uptake 1, due Friday. Xplornet will receive a letter of support from the county for a $200-$220 million project, that would cover parts of central and northern Ontario, including over 2,600 km of fibre, and offer 100 mbps (megabits per second) to 5,400 currently underserved households in Haliburton County. Bell will receive a letter of support for a $20 million project, to provide service to approximately 4,000 premises in Haliburton County, in a combination of fibre to home and fixed wireless service, with speeds up to 50 mpbs. Cottage County Internet will be requesting support from the county for Intake 2 of the program.
