Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative
Connection matters. Delivering Internet for Nova Scotians is a priority and we’re making progress. As of January 2021, we have announced/included projects to connect more than 91,000 homes and businesses in rural Nova Scotia. This is good progress, but we’re not done yet. We haven’t forgotten about the people and places that remain underserved, and we continue to work to reach as many of them as we possibly can.
Where We Are
Delivering Internet to Nova Scotians is a priority and we’re making progress. We are working with our Internet Service Provider partners to bring reliable, high-speed Internet to communities across the province.
Since the first Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative projects were announced in February 2020, approximately 45,000** of a total of 91,300 homes and businesses have the network in place to provide new or improved high-speed internet. Providers are working to connect the rest as quickly as possible. Through our work we identified additional underserved and have captured where possible bringing us to 91,300.
There are approximately 3,000 remaining underserved homes and businesses. We're working with qualified providers on potential solutions and work will continue in an effort to reach as close to 100% of homes and businesses as possible.
With projects announced to date and including municipal led projects in Annapolis and Pictou counties, access to internet connections will extend to 99% of Nova Scotia.
We're not done! Work will continue with internet providers in an effort to reach as close to 100% of homes and businesses as possible.
** As of September 2021
Project Zones
For more information on projects in your community, select your region below. Click here for a full version of our zoning map for this project. Or enter your community name in the search bar.
Select a project zone from the map for more information.
List of zones
Western NS
| Annapolis / Hants
| Shelburne / Barrington
| South Shore
| Cumberland / Colchester (Truro)
| Pictou
| HRM / Eastern Shore
| Eastern Strait / Guysborough
| Rural Cape Breton
| CBRM
Note: The names of our Internet zones don’t necessarily represent the counties they fall within.
What does the Rogers and Seaside announcement mean for the project?
Seaside Communications and Rogers Communications announced a joint agreement that would see Rogers acquire Seaside, a leading, locally operated, telecommunications company based in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Rogers has committed to retaining Seaside's local presence and all existing staff moving forward. Read more here.
We're looking forward to continuing our partnership through the Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative and the projects we have underway with Seaside to bring access to high-speed Internet to those areas.
Visit Seaside's update page including FAQ's for more information.
My area was included in the scope expansions projects announced in November 2020 and January 2021. When will these scope expansion projects be completed?
Overall, it is anticipated that all homes and businesses as part of the Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative will have access to improved network by the end of or before 2023. We fully expect that these projects will continue to be completed in stages (as some are complete or nearing completion for example) and many will be done prior to the end of 2023.
Access to connections will be ongoing up to and including this date. We are working closely with Internet Service Providers to accelerate the work as much as possible and anticipate some will be complete earlier than that. Please continue to check back for more details and updates.
How do I know if I’m included in Round 2 projects?
With the Round 2 announcement announced in September 2020, an additional 32,000 homes and businesses will have access to connections—all with fibre to the home. This agreement with pre-qualified Internet service provider, Bell Media includes more than 100 communities across the province.
For a general list of project areas, click here. This details communities or parts of communities that are included in all projects to date.
We will also be hosting community-based webinars in many areas as well as sharing information with local libraries, community hubs, etc.
Why has only Bell Canada been awarded in Round 2?
The Round 2 RFP was open to all 15 pre-qualified proponents and we received proposals from a number of them. In this case, when the proposals were evaluated and scored, the highest ranked projects all happened to be Bell projects. You will recall that five separate ISPs, both big and small, were awarded projects through Round 1.
We should also recognize CRTC regulations around open access mean that portions of backbone networks installed are open to other providers to access, so more robust Internet networks could encourage further competition at the customer level over time.