Internet users in Northeastern Ontario looking to log on to the information superhighway will soon have greater public access to high-speed broadband service.
The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) will provide $47,885 to the North Eastern Ontario Communications Network Inc. (NEONet), to deploy high-speed Internet access points, known as public wireless hotspots, at 80 locations within the District of Timmins.
NEONet, an information and communication technology development organization based in Timmins, plans to establish these hotspots free to the public at designated facilities in nine participating communities: Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Hearst, Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Iroquois Falls, Moonbeam, Temagami and Temiskaming Shores. The project, which is scheduled to take about six months to complete, involves site surveying, network design, access point installation and launch.
QUOTE
“Providing accessible wireless Internet hotspots in designated public places is a value-added service for local residents, business travellers, tourists and visiting groups.”
-David Ramsay, MPP for Timiskaming-Cochrane
“Providing high-speed Internet service communities is expected to help attract more events, more people and potentially more business to the area, generating new economic benefits.”
- Minister Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry
and Chair of the NOHFC
QUICK FACTS
·While NEONet and other similar organizations have received previous funding from the provincial government for cellular expansion, connectivity and broadband projects, across the North, the “hotspots” plan is the first of its kind to be supported by NOHFC.
·NorthernTel has been secured by NEONet to install access points in local libraries, chambers of commerce, community centres, arenas and halls, parks and other public facilities. Access points, not computer equipment, are part of this project.
LEARN MORE
Learn more about NOHFC programs www.mndm.gov.on.ca/nohfc
Read about NEONet at www.neonet.on.ca