QUEBEC CITY — In two separate announcements today, Cogeco Connexion and Bell Canada have been awarded more than $50 million in combined funding as part of Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed, to bring high-speed Internet services to underserved households in the Memphrémagog regional county municipality (RCM) and Bas-Saint-Laurent region, respectively.
Cogeco is receiving $22.7 million in joint funding to provide high-speed Internet access to close to 3,000 households in the Memphrémagog region by September 2022. Cogeco’s investment in the project was not announced.
Municipalities who will benefit from the Cogeco broadband project include:
- Austin, Ayer’s Cliff, Bolton-Est, Eastman, Hatley, Canton de Hatley, Magog City, Ogden, Canton d’Orford, Canton de Potton, Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton, Canton de Stanstead, Stanstead City, and Stukely-Sud
Bell will receive $28.9 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments to bring Bell Fibe Internet access to 2,632 homes in the Bas-Saint Laurent region by September 2022. Bell’s investment was not disclosed. (The press release noted Bell will also connect an additional 2,800 households in the region by the end of 2022, as part of the Québec branché and Connect to Innovate programs.)
The municipalities in Bas-Saint-Laurent who will benefit from the Bell broadband project funded through Operation High Speed include:
- Les Basques RCM: Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, Sainte-Françoise, Saint-Éloi, and Trois-Pistoles
- Rivières-du-Loup RCM: Cacouna, L’Isle-Verte, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, and Saint-Paul-de-la-Croix
- Témiscouata RCM: Auclair, Dégelis, Packington, Saint-Elzéar-de-Témiscouata, Saint-Eusèbe, Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande, Saint-Juste-du-Lac, Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha!, Saint-Pierre-de-Lamy, and Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac
Operation High Speed is a joint initiative of the governments of Canada and Quebec to connect 148,000 households, mostly through new agreements with six of the biggest telecommunications companies in the province (Vidéotron, Cogeco, Bell, Xplornet, Sogetel and Telus) and aims to give Quebec the highest connectivity rate in Canada, at 99%.
