Universal Broadband Fund

The Universal Broadband Fund is a $3.225 billion program that will provide funding to a range of high-speed Internet projects across the country. It has been designed to fund broadband infrastructure projects that will bring Internet at speeds of 50/10 Megabits per second (Mbps), with a focus on rural and remote communities. The fund includes:

• Up to $750 million for large, high-impact projects;
• up to $50 million for mobile projects that primarily benefit Indigenous peoples, including projects along highways and roads where mobile connectivity is lacking; and,
• a Rapid Response Stream for shovel-ready projects that can be completed quickly.

The Government's goal is for all Canadians to have access to high-speed Internet of at least 50 Megabits per second download and 10 megabits per second upload speeds.

COVID-19 has highlighted how much we all rely on digital connections now and in the future. It has reinforced the importance of access to high-speed Internet as Canadians are working, learning and communicating with friends and family from home now more than ever.

With the increased investment in the Universal Broadband Fund, we will be able to 98% of Canadians by 2026. This is faster than anticipated in High Speed Access for All — Canada's Connectivity Strategy, which estimated only 95% of Canadians would have access by 2026.

To help achieve this, we included a Rapid Response Stream for the Universal Broadband Fund. This stream is for projects that were able to get started now to connect rural Canadians as soon as possible. Further information can be found on the Rapid Response Stream website.

There remains significant rural and remote areas of Canada that do not have access to high-speed Internet. According to the latest CRTC Communications Monitoring Report, only 46% of rural households and 35% of First Nations households on reserves have access to 50/10 Mbps service. This is  compared to nearly 99% access in urban households.

Programs like the Universal Broadband Fund are part of the government's strategy to close this gap, along with additional funding from the CRTC, Infrastructure Canada, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and Indigenous Services Canada. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology will also play an important role in connecting all Canadians.

The Universal Broadband Fund allowed almost any Canadian entity to submit an application; however, individuals and federal entities were excluded from applying to the program. Eligible applicants were required to have the ability to design, build and run broadband infrastructure and needed to identify who would build, own and operate the broadband network.

Any 250m road segment identified on the National Broadband Internet Availability Map that does not show as having 50/10 Mbps coverage was eligible.

Projects are being selected using a three-stage assessment process that will ensure that applications from a wide variety of applicants across Canada can be considered. Ultimately, the projects that best meet the objectives of the program will be selected.

Stage one involves meeting basic eligibility requirements. Stage two evaluates essential criteria such as managerial capacity, technical feasibility and sustainability, and stage three involves comparing projects in the same geographic area against each other, focusing on relative technical and financial merits, as well as community benefits, such as commitment to local employment.

Under the Universal Broadband Fund, up to $50 million was set aside to fund mobile projects that primarily benefit Indigenous peoples. These mobile projects are expected to extend 4G LTE coverage or better mobile services to unserved areas. Projects must target Indigenous communities, roads within or leading to Indigenous communities, or highways and roads where the deployment of mobile network coverage would benefit Indigenous peoples. Unserved sections of roads that would be deemed strategic for the socio-economic development or public safety of Indigenous peoples could also be eligible.

This will complement a number of Government initiativesalso in place to support mobile projects, such as Connect to Innovate; the CRTC's $750 million Broadband Fund; Investing in Canada Infrastructure program's Rural and Northern Infrastructure Stream ; and programs administered by provincial and territorial governments.

Large scale, high-impact projects were to be transformative in terms of results and scope. They target a large number of households, a large geographic area that leaves no household underserved, greatly improve the speeds offered (e.g. from 5/1 to 50/10) or have a business case that makes sense to involve a partner like the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which is available to offer low-cost loans for broadband projects.

We engaged partners, stakeholders and Canadians to ensure that the Universal Broadband Fund responds to the needs of rural communities.

In developing the program, we met with Internet service providers, municipal organizations, Indigenous organizations, and provinces and territories to ensure that the Universal Broadband Fund responds to needs identified by all partners and stakeholders.

In High-Speed Access for All: Canada's Connectivity Strategy, the government committed to getting 95% of Canadians connected by 2026 and 100% by 2030. With the launch of the Universal Broadband Fund, this target was accelerated to 98% of Canadians by 2026. The government is on track to achieve this target, by leveraging funding from all levels of government, Indigenous and private sector partners, also to achieve its objective of full 50/10 Mbps broadband coverage in Canada by 2030.