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Better internet services may be coming to Mono in the future

February 18, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Peter Richardson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Broadband with substantial increases in availability and speed may be coming to Mono.

Council heard a request from Rogers Communications Canada Inc., to support their application to the Federal government to become part of the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) program.

Their aim is to supply the entire town of Mono with Fibre Optic Internet service. Currently, much of Mono is underserviced by the available service providers and this prevents many residents and businesses from taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by digital communications.

Broadband connectivity is a key priority for Mono Council and is in fact, part of their Corporate Strategic Plan.

Rogers’ “leave no home behind,” plan is a true game changer for Mono.

Rogers build strategy commitment is to bring broadband to entire areas of underserved homes. If it is approved, it will bring the needed broadband service, to households and businesses to enable them to avail themselves of digital opportunities. Especially, in the fields of business, education, health and public safety.

One of the other benefits to the proposal, is that there is no suggested cost to the Town. A notation made by Deputy Mayor John Creelman, who has been spearheading the drive for better internet service in Mono.

To this end, the deputy Mayor was deeply involved with helping Vianet set up the antennae on the Town water tower.

Another potential benefit is that if two service providers are eyeing the same territory, the funder, in this case the Federal government will be the one to decide who may operate where.

Also, any service must be an open access one, meaning that third party users must be allow access to the service for a reasonable cost.

The proposed service, will have a minimum download speed of 50 megabits per second and a minimum upload speed of 10 megabits per second.

There are purportedly, several service providers interested in servicing Mono. CAO Mark Early mentioned that he had recently been approached by V-Media from Concord, who are also interested in supplying internet services to Mono.

Deputy Mayor Creelman noted that the SWIFT program is set to go along Hwy.10, from the 10th Sideroad north through Camilla. If Rogers and Vianet are prepared to service the rest of Mono, this will allow SWIFT to move into other parts of Dufferin County, not adequately services with broadband.

Innovation Canada expects that 90 per cent of Canada will have access to high speed internet by the end of 2021. Individuals are encouraged to reach out to their internet service providers to notify them about the UBF and encourage them to apply for funding.

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