Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND)
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has recently completed an agreement with Industry Canada to develop a state-of-the-art wireless internet service that serves the rural and semi-rural residents and businesses of Chatham-Kent. The Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) is:
“A Government of Canada program that provides funding - through a competitive process - to bring publicly available broadband access to rural, remote and Northern communities in Canada.”
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent acted as the Project Administrator and oversaw the network installation provided by a local independent Internet provider. As the project progressed residents and businesses had the opportunity to purchase high-speed internet services from the Internet provider at competitive market prices.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent and its partners expect that the introduction of high-speed internet service to the under-serviced areas of Chatham-Kent will create opportunities and competitive advantage to areas such as business, education, health services, local government and agriculture.
PROJECT STATUS
On May 12th, 2006 a significant project milestone was achieved with the completion of the 5th base station installation in Tilbury. With this last installation, approximately 98.5% of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent now has access to high-speed internet services through the BRAND project. The following communities are currently serviced by the wireless system:
|
Bothwell |
Cedar Springs |
|
Charing Cross |
Tilbury - Rural |
|
Dover Centre |
Kent Bridge |
|
Duart |
Tupperville |
|
Grande Pointe |
Highgate |
|
Merlin |
Port Alma |
|
Muirkirk |
North Buxton |
|
Pain Court |
Morpeth |
|
Erieau |
Thamesville |
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