Pontiacers have likely seen plenty of trucks stringing fibre optic internet cable along telephone lines throughout the region as part of the federal and provincial governments’ "Operation High-Speed" initiative, which aims to connect all Quebecers to high-speed internet by this fall.

CHIP 101.9 spoke with Charles Beaudet, the Vice-President of Quebec and Eastern Canada for Xplornet, the company in charge of the roll-out for the Pontiac region, as well as a few other areas of the Outaouais. Beaudet said that they have eight or nine crews active in the Pontiac at the moment, and they have just over half of the nearly 800 km of network built already.

Beaudet believes that they are ahead of schedule to have the Pontiac region up and running by the end of September 2022. He said that depending on the service area, some residents may be hooked up as early as July.

There will be roughly 5,000 homes connected in the region, specifically in areas that previously didn’t have access to internet with speeds of 50 mb/s download and 10 mb/s upload. Beaudet said that they will soon be releasing a website with an interactive map so residents can see where the fibre service is available.

Beaudet said that speeds will range between 50 mb/s and 1 gb/s and range in price from $60 to $99.

The full interview with Beaudet is available below: