The provincial and federal governments have announced funding of up to $180-million for ultra-high speed internet for 300 communities in southwestern Ontario.
Ontario and Canada will each provide up to $90-million toward a total project cost of about $281-million.
Private sector providers and communities will pay the rest with Lambton County's share estimated at about $1-million over five years.
The Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project will expand access to broadband internet by delivering fibre optic coverage to a total population of 3.5 million, spanning counties and municipalities in southwest Ontario as well as Caledon and Niagara.
Lambton County Warden Bev MacDougall says the local roll-out will begin after contribution agreements are struck between the Western Ontario Warden's Caucus and senior government.
"We've known in Lambton that we had some major gap areas for some time," says MacDougall.
"The next steps now will be to do accurate mapping of what we have in place that's going to be usable. Where we do have the gaps, we'll be identifying those components of the new system."
The project will help communities and businesses better compete in global markets, attract new jobs and improve quality of life.
