Question Period Note: Universal Broadband Fund (UBF)

What is the status of the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) that was announced in Budget 2019?

• Canadians know that access to reliable high-speed Internet is essential.

• To date, over $2.2 billion of the $3.225 billion in available funding under the Universal Broadband Fund has been announced to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 950,000 households across the country.

• Many additional projects have been selected putting us on track to exceed our target of connecting 98% of Canadians by 2026.

• The Government of Canada has also announced significant agreements with Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island to help provide high-speed Internet access to all Canadians by 2030.

In 2019, the government published Canada’s Connectivity Strategy and set a national target to provide high-speed Internet access (50/10 Megabits per second [Mbps]) to 95% of Canadian households by 2026, and 100% by 2030. With new investments in the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), the target for 2026 was accelerated to 98%.

With the $475 million top up to the UBF in November 2022, the government has now committed $3.225 billion for the UBF to help reach the national target. In addition, the government has committed up to $600 million to secure new Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite capacity to serve remote and northern communities, and entered into an agreement-in-principle to invest $1.44 billion into Telesat’s LEO satellite constellation, Telesat Lightspeed.

The UBF is supporting broadband projects that will provide high-speed Internet access to Canadian households, and includes:
• A Rapid Response Stream (RRS) which was for shovel-ready projects that could provide access to households quickly;
• Up to $750 million for large, high-impact projects that are transformative in nature, for example providing access to large numbers of households or large geographic areas, or will substantially improve speeds being offered; and,
• Up to $50 million for mobile Internet projects that primarily benefit Indigenous peoples.

Announced projects as of April 1, 2023, are:

• Summary of all UBF Announcements:
o As of April 1, 2023, the government has announced over $2.2 billion in funding under the UBF. This accounts for more than 260 projects and 6 federal-provincial agreements that will bring improve Internet access to over 950,000 households across Canada, including more than 29,000 Indigenous households

• Federal/provincial partnerships have been announced as follows:
 QC: up to 166,000 households through equal co-funding totalling $920 million
 ON: up to 280,000 households through equal co-funding totalling $1.2 billion
 AB: up to 200,000 households through equal co-funding totalling $780 million
 BC: up to 115,000 households through equal co-funding totalling $830 million
 NL: up to 60,000 households through co-funding totalling $136 million
 PEI: up to 2,000 households through equal co-funding totalling $20 million

• Rapid Response Stream: The government has announced over $189 million in funding for 198 projects to cover 97,922 households across Canada, including 19,578 Indigenous households, with improved Internet access. The majority of these projects are operational.

• Mobile: The government announced a partnership with the government of British Columbia (BC) to provide 100% mobile coverage along BC’s Highway 16, known as the Highway of Tears, by October 2023. The project is made possible by an equal federal-provincial investment of $2.25 million each. This project fulfills a key recommendation of the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice. In total, under the UBF Mobile Stream, over $2.6 million in funding for two projects has been announced to provide improved mobile connectivity along 267 km of road.

• 93.5% of Canadian homes today have access to high-speed Internet compared to just 79% in 2014.

• We are making significant progress on connecting Canadians. Already, more than 200,000 households – including nearly 8,000 Indigenous households – have new access to high-speed Internet thanks to the Universal Broadband Fund.

• UBF projects are large scale infrastructure projects that take time to design and construct. While the government is on track to exceed its target of providing high-speed Internet access to 98% of Canadians by 2026, and all Canadians by 2030, project timelines may change without notice due to supply chain disruption, labour availability or inclement weather.

• Progress made towards providing high-speed internet access to all households in the country can be found on the National Broadband Internet Service Availability Map and the new interactive High-Speed Internet Access Dashboard.