QUEBEC CITY — As part of the Quebec-Canada Operation High Speed initiative, the federal and provincial governments announced today a joint investment of $45 million awarded to Telus and Sogetel which will help to deliver high-speed Internet access to more than 8,000 households in the Chaudière-Appalaches region by September 2022.
Telus will receive $13.3 million in funding to provide high-speed Internet connectivity to 2,700 homes, while Sogetel will receive $31.7 million to provide coverage to 5,400 households in the region, says the governments’ joint press release, which did not outline the service providers’ investments in these broadband projects.
However, Telus issued its own press release today, saying a combined investment of $30 million from Telus and the governments of Quebec and Canada will support the deployment of Telus’s PureFibre network to more than 20,000 families and businesses in almost 35 communities in the Chaudière-Appalaches region — which suggests Telus’s broadband infrastructure investment in the region goes well beyond the 2,700 homes covered by the Operation High Speed-funded project.
(Telus’s press release also mentions the company is bringing its 5G network to approximately 25 communities in the region, but that, of course, is beyond the scope of Operation High Speed.)
Here is a list of the municipalities targeted by the Telus and Sogetel broadband projects being funded through the Operation High Speed initiative, according to the government press release:
Telus projects
- Beauce-Sartigan RCM: Saint-Côme–Linière
- Bellechasse RCM: La Durantaye, Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice-de-Buckland, Saint-Charles-de-Bellechasse, Saint-Damien-de-Buckland, Saint-Henri, Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse, Saint-Léon-de-Standon, Saint-Malachie, Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Saint-Nazaire-de-Dorchester, Saint-Nérée-de-Bellechasse, Saint-Raphaël and Saint-Vallier
- Nouvelle-Beauce RCM: Frampton, Saint-Bernard, Sainte-Marguerite, Sainte-Marie, Saint-Isidore, Saints-Anges and Vallée-Jonction
- L’Islet RCM: Saint-Cyrille-de-Lessard
- Lotbinière RCM: Dosquet, Leclercville, Saint-Agapit, Sainte-Croix, Saint-Édouard-de-Lotbinière, Saint-Narcisse-de-Beaurivage, Saint-Patrice-de-Beaurivage and Val-Alain
(Telus’s press release mentions a few other communities beyond the ones listed above.)
Sogetel projects
- Les Appalaches RCM: Adstock, Beaulac-Garthby, Disraeli, Disraeli parish municipality, East Broughton, Irlande, Kinnear’s Mills, Sacré-Coeur-de-Jésus, Saint-Adrien-d’Irlande, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Beauce, Sainte-Praxède, Saint-Fortunat, Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds, Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-de-Wolfestown, Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf, Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine, Saint-Julien, Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton and Thetford Mines
- Les Etchemins RCM: Lac-Etchemin, Saint-Benjamin, Saint-Camille-de-Lellis, Saint-Cyprien, Sainte-Aurélie, Sainte-Justine, Sainte-Rose-de-Watford, Sainte-Sabine, Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, Saint-Luc-de-Bellechasse, Saint-Magloire, Saint-Prosper and Saint-Zacharie
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%.
