Petawawa and Laurentian Valley township are located in eastern Ontario, Canada.

The days of dial-up are finally coming to a close for large portions of two rural Ontario communities — Petawawa and Laurentian Valley Township, with the announcement that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has approved a grant application to help expand broadband access to reach at least 95% of residents.

A joint broadband project committee met Monday for the first time to review the project’s budget and rollout plans.  The two communities joined forces to appeal for broadband connectivity, and now will work together to administer the project.  Laurentian Valley Councillor George Hodgkinson will serve as committee chairman and Petawawa Councillor Treena Lemay as vice-chairwoman.

The broadband project budget is $2.1 million dollars: $708,908 from the Canadian government and an additional $1.8 million dollars from Bell Aliant, which will be spent on additional towers and switch equipment.

Laurentian Valley township (population 9,265) and Petawawa (population 14,651) are located west of Pembroke, the nearest city.  Mayors from both communities praised the project.  Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet is pleased the broadband issue is being addressed.  It’s an issue he heard about “constantly” from town residents.  Laurentian Valley Mayor Jack Wilson also feels broadband access is long overdue in his community, particularly because residents’ tax dollars helped construct the nation’s broadband infrastructure.  His residents have “waited a long time to get high-speed Internet at their homes.”

The Bell Aliant broadband proposal envisions traditional DSL service for more populated neighborhoods and community centers and Inukshuk Wireless broadband delivered from existing Bell towers to reach those who live too far away for DSL service or are located in particularly rural areas where DSL is not cost effective.  Inukshuk is an Inuit word that represents a beacon or a familiar place marker.  Inukshuk Wireless is a joint project between Bell and Rogers Communications to provide wireless broadband connectivity in Canada’s rural communities.

Planned for completion by 2010, the joint project hopes to cover 82% of the areas currently unserved with any broadband service.