Ontario Awards $100 Million Internet Contract to Starlink

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2024 – Canadian government officials in Ontario announced last week they are partnering with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to connect thousands of rural locations in the province.

“Our government is pleased to work with Starlink to offer a highly advanced satellite internet service that will help people living and working in the hardest to reach areas of the province access high-speed internet,” Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma said in a Thursday press release. “We are using all viable options and technologies to ensure every community across the province has access by the end of 2025.”

The Ontario government’s deal with Starlink will offer connectivity solutions to 15,000 homes and businesses in underserved communities across Ontario. Under the contract, Ontario is expected to spend $6,667 per location.

The deal falls under the Ontario Satellite Internet program, part of the provincial government’s almost $4 billion Accelerated High-Speed Internet program, which is designed to connect every community in the province to high speed broadband by the end of 2025.

Since the program’s inception in 2022, more than 100,000 locations have been connected to high speed internet. The province intends to connect an additional 450,000 locations by the close of 2025.

Details for registration and eligibility will be made available in the Spring of 2025, according to the Ontario government.