The B.C. provincial government announced on Friday the completion of a new project connecting rural and remote communities in the province’s North and Central Okanagan regions with high-speed internet access.
As part of a $185,000 CAD investment the province made into the two regions, more than 3,180 households now have high-speed internet service.
Ispeed Communications, the organization that was given the given the grant, was able to complete the project under budget, using only $113,000 of the funds that the province had allocated for the project.
Prior to today’s announcement, more than 1,200 households in North and Central Okanagan did not have any internet access, while the other households in the region only had access to what the government says were “slower” internet speeds.
The North Okanagan communities benefiting from the upgrade include Mara, Grindrod, Enderby, Trinity Valley, rural Armstrong and rural Vernon, while the Central Okanagan communities benefiting from the upgrade include Lake Country, Westside Road (Parker Cove to Kelowna, including Valley of the Sun), rural Kelowna, rural West Kelowna and rural Peachland.
As part of the federal government’s Connect to Innovate program, which is a $500 million fund aimed at improving high-speed internet access in Canada’s rural and remote communities, the B.C. provincial government, alongside ISED, announced last month that it was investing $45.4 million CAD toward providing rural communities in British Columbia with high-speed internet access.
Source: B.C. Provincial Government
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