The Broadband Rural Community Connector project will give citizens in the region access to broadband class bandwidth right in their homes and small businesses. This broadband build will reach thousands of Essex County residents and provide them with much needed high-speed access to online information and services that will support learning, health care, and business growth opportunities.

The Province of Ontario is providing Essex County with $1 million for the Broadband Rural Community Connector project, through the Rural Connections Broadband Program. The County of Essex, as a participant in the Connecting Windsor-Essex Smart Community consortium of partners, is leveraging the investment that is being made in a regional fibre optic infrastructure project that will provide the backbone technology for this project. In addition, Cogeco Cable Inc. is providing an approximate $1 million contribution to this initiative. The total costs associated with this project are approximately $3.2 million.

The Province of Ontario’s Rural Connections Broadband Program helps rural municipalities build high-speed Internet projects in their communities. The program's goal is to bring broadband access to rural and remote areas currently underserved in southern Ontario.

The Connecting Windsor-Essex™ initiative is making our community one of the world’s most connected regions and uniting diverse organizations and individuals to champion the cause of connecting people “at the speed of life.”