Welcome to the self-proclaimed Rural Ottawa High-Speed Internet Blog. High-speed Internet access is virtually ubiquitous in the urban and suburban areas of Ottawa, but when I started this blog in 2005, only about 60% of the rural areas of Ottawa have coverage. However, even for rural citizens, high-speed Internet access is becoming as necessary as telephone service. Happily, high-speed coverage for rural Ottawa has increased significantly, and not only is coverage reportedly above 90%, many rural residents and businesses now have more than one choice of high-speed ISP.

This purpose of this weblog is to track news and events related to high-speed (broadband) Internet access in the rural areas of Ottawa and, to a lesser extent, in nearby townships.

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Media Release: City Delivers Broadband to Every Rural Address

Hmmm, it must be an election year. Still, this is a great sign for rural Internet in Ottawa.

For immediate release:

September 28, 2006

City Delivers Broadband to Every Rural Address

Ottawa - City Council has approved a $1-million funding contribution to speed up the delivery of broadband access to all parts of rural Ottawa. The City will move forward with a private-public partnership (P3) to develop the broadband infrastructure needed to reach every rural home, farm and business by fall 2007.

"As Mayor of Canada’s farming capital, I’m proud that we will soon be delivering high-speed Internet service to every rural door and community in Ottawa," said Mayor Bob Chiarelli. "This is important for farmers, small businesses and families in all our rural communities."

In addition, broadband has proven economic benefits for farms and businesses, allowing them to make better marketing decisions, access on-line production records and do research before making new purchases.

"Expanding broadband to every rural address was a key priority identified at last fall’s Rural Summit," said West Carleton Councillor Eli El-Chantiry. "With full access to broadband rural residents will benefit from on-line learning, distance medicine, tele-commuting and much more."

Before 2003, broadband was only available to about 2 per cent of rural residents and businesses in the Ottawa area. Great progress has been made as a result of grass-roots community efforts sponsored by the Ottawa Rural Communities Network (ORCnet), an organization supported by the City and devoted to expanding broadband service in rural areas.

To date, about 60 per cent of rural Ottawa has access to broadband Internet service. This includes most of the villages and communities where service providers could more easily provide the necessary infrastructure. With further investment through an innovative P3 approach the necessary delivery programs and communications towers can be put in place to fill all the gaps currently not serviced. The project is expected to cost up to $3 million, with the City contributing up to $1 million and the private sector partner contributing the remaining capital investment.

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For more information:

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613-580-2450

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