WELLINGTON COUNTY – The recent completion of broadband infrastructure upgrades in Wellington County, announced by Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in a May 12 press release, will allow for access to 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload internet speeds for an additional 275 homes and businesses.
“The construction of broadband infrastructure in the communities of Yatton, Creek Bank, and Goldstone, is now complete, and more people in Wellington now have access to fast, reliable internet service,” said agriculture minister Ernie Hardeman.
The Ontario and federal governments chipped in over $655,000 of taxpayer dollars to help fund the over $2 million project expanding fibre-optic services from Wallenstein to Arthur.
Fibre-optic lines are theoretically capable of transmitting one gigabit (1000 Mbps) of data per second — the fastest speed available. At 50 Mbps, a two hour HD movie could take upwards of 10 minutes to download, but over a fibre-optic line, less than a minute.
The contract for the expansion was awarded to North Frontenac Telephone Company by Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT), a municipally-led non profit addressing internet connectivity in rural Southwestern Ontario.
SWIFT’s contribution was over $1.3 million.
Two contracts in Wellington County have also been awarded to Cogeco Connexion totalling over $8.25 million projects in Eden Mills and from Rockwood to Belwood, set to be completed by Aug. 31 and Dec. 31 respectively.
