New Brunswick-based rural-focused internet service provider Xplore announced today that 27,000 homes and businesses in rural Quebec are now able to connect to fibre internet.
The regional county municipalities (RCMs) of Pontiac, Les Sources, Vallée de la Gatineau, La Tuque and Papineau will benefit from Xplore’s fibre network, spanning 2,700 kilometres.
The company celebrated another milestone for the same project in May, having enabled 16,000 premises to connect to its new fibre-to-the-premises network.
Xplore, which rebranded from Xplornet to reflect its renewed focus to bring “new world-class technologies” – fibre-to-the-premises and 5G broadband services – to rural Canadians, first announced this deployment project in 2022, promising to connect 6000 homes with service plans including download and upload speeds up to 1 Gbps and eventual connection of 20,000 homes and businesses in 61 rural communities in Quebec.
The number of homes and businesses to benefit from this project, slated for completion in September, has now increased to 33,000.
Progress update for each RCM is as follows :
- Pontiac – 99 per cent completed, 8,000 homes in the region to benefit
- Les Sources – construction now complete for more than 3,500 homes and businesses to benefit
- Vallée de la Gatineau – More than 5,500 premises, or 70 per cent, are now enabled to connect.
- La Tuque – Construction 85 per cent complete and on track to connect more than 1,300 premises by the end of September.
- Papineau – Nearly 70 per cent, or more than 9,400 premises, can now connect to fibre internet from Xplore.
This project was in part supported by Opération Haute Vitesse, a joint commitment, launched in 2021, by the governments of Canada and Quebec, to provide coverage to 250,000 Quebec households by September 2022. After that, Xplore said it invested on its own to bring fibre to additional premises in these areas.
“With each new connection, Xplore demonstrates its commitment to providing better broadband experiences to residents and businesses in the province,” said Charles Beaudet, vice president, Government Relations. “Supported by our partners in government, we are empowering Quebec residents to make the most of rural living.”
The government of Quebec launched an interactive map last year showing the progress of Operation High Speed.
