Completed Projects

From 2010 to 2015 EORN managed an innovative public-private initiative that delivered a $175 million broadband network, improving access for roughly 90 per cent of eastern Ontario. The federal and provincial governments each contributed $55 million, with municipalities through the EOWC and some EOMC municipalities providing $10 million.

EORN managed the construction of this $175 million public-private broadband network across eastern Ontario, linking communities with 5,500 kilometres of fibre, local access networks, and satellite solutions for hard-to-reach areas. The network connected over 60 business parks, supporting local growth. Ongoing upgrades by the private sector partners, valued at over $100 million since 2015, continued to expand capacity and reliability, with enhancements. The project wrapped up in 2024.

Collaboration with private sector providers was key to expanding connectivity. Selected through a competitive process to maximize coverage, providers including Bell Aliant, Bell, Cogeco, Nexicom, Storm Internet, Utilities Kingston, and Xplornet together invested over $57 million.

EORN's initial project, Broadband Phase 1, helped improve fixed high-speed internet access across the region. EORN also helped to negotiate better pricing to expand fibre optic connections for municipal governments.

In 2020, EORN proposed a project to deliver ultra-fast internet speeds to homes and businesses in the region. The federal and provincial governments have since announced their own projects, that will connect all homes in Ontario to high-speed internet by the end of 2025. With these government initiatives, the EORN Gig Project will not be proceeding.

A 10-year digital strategy was developed to help residents, businesses and public services use the network to reach their full potential.

Learn more:

EORN Digital Strategy Executive Summary

EORN Digital Strategy 2015-2024

The municipal fibre project helps bring improved broadband speeds and better pricing for municipal government services across the region.

Through a competitive bidding process, EORN selected and negotiated improved pricing for fibre and DSL broadband solutions for municipal governments in eastern Ontario. The improved connectivity in pricing was achieved by bundling needs across the region and leveraging economies of scale.

By providing municipal government access to higher speeds at lower costs, it opens the door for further government cost savings and greater efficiency, such as hosted telephone systems, cloud-based computing and public Wi-Fi.

If your municipality is interested in learning more about the program, please email us.

In 2024, EORN developed a business case for the EOWC for an ambitious housing project in eastern Ontario. The proposed project was known as the EOWC Regional Housing Plan and aimed to build 28,000 housing units during a seven-year build period across eastern. While working on housing for the EOWC, EORN became invested in communal servicing, which is a way for clusters of homes and businesses to share dedicated and local water and wastewater treatment facilities. Later in the year, EORN and 2B Developments received $1 million in funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to support water and wastewater management via the creation of municipal services corporations (MSCs). A municipal services corporation is a corporation whose shares are owned by one or more municipality, or a municipality and one or more other public-sector entities.

The County of Frontenac has taken an innovative approach by establishing the Frontenac Municipal Services Corporation (FMSC) to oversee the design, installation, and maintenance of communal water and wastewater systems.