Morson broadband project gets $300,000 signal boost

Ken Johnston

Efforts to bring broadband services to the Morson area have made a partial connection, but nothing is getting transmitted yet.
Economic Development Officer Geoff Gillon said that the Rainy River Future Development Corporation has received word that the federal government’s FedNor program will provide about $300,000 to aid in the installation of towers in the Bergland, Morson and other rural areas north of the existing Hwy. 11 network of towers in the area. However, no money had flowed from the Ontario government’s Northern Ontario Heritage Corporation program. “They have the application but it did not make their meeting (recently),” said Gillon who noted that NOHFC has many projects to deal with at each meeting.
He is hopeful that NOHFC will look at it at their next meeting which is scheduled for late July or early August. “It looks very positive. They (NOHFC) have funded all the COBRA programs all along and Thunder Bay Telephone is in the area picking sites for the towers.”
Gillon feels optimistic that NOHFC will come through with about $800,000 to meet the project’s needs.
As for construction starting this year, “I am hoping it will begin soon.” Once in place it is expected that affordable broadband services will be offered for the general public in the west end of the Rainy River District and eventually cell phone services will be added to the new towers, expanding coverage to the Morson and Bergland areas as well as other rural communities not presently getting that service.