Essex County council has unanimously voted to move forward with the SWIFT (South Western Integrated Fibre Technology) rural internet initiative.
SWIFT Executive Director Barry Field updated council Wednesday night announcing a minimum of $12.8-million will be spent in Windsor-Essex to bring high-speed fibre internet to under served areas.
There was hesitation around the council table as the project has taken years to get off the ground, but according to Field several changes have been made at SWIFT and the organization is ready to hit the ground running.
"The start of the SWIFT program took quite a bit longer than anybody had anticipated. There were some bumps along the way, that's goes without saying, but the province and the feds concerns that they had have been alleviated and we are well on our way to a successful implementation."
He says SWIFT has turned a new page.
"There's a new board of directors. There's new management. There's new staff at SWIFT. I think within the last year we've made some very significant progress as is evident in the province and the feds willingness to sign those contribution agreements. So that speaks a lot for itself."
Essex County Council meeting electronically on June 17, 2020 (Photo by CTV Windsor's Alana Hadadean)
Field says it's now time to get internet service providers on board.
"We hope to attract bids from various ISPs to provide infrastructure within Essex County. What we've seen in other municipalities is that through the competitive nature of the RFP we actually attract more investment than the minimum from the ISPs. So that's a good thing."
Given the green light, SWIFT will begin construction sometime next year with a goal of having the technology in place by mid-2023.
The $12.8-million will only cover about 22% of under serviced homes in the region — Field says, if given a blank cheque, SWIFT could have high-speed internet in every rural home in four to five years.
The entire Southwestern Ontario internet expansion carries a price tag of $219-million with the federal and provincial governments covering two thirds while internet service providers and municipalities pick up the rest of the cost — Essex County will contribute $1.1-million to the project.