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1 Gig high speed goes rural in OntarioMUSKOKA, ON, Sept. 28, 2016 /CNW/ - Lakeland Networks is changing lives by rolling out 1 Gigabit fibre service to rural homes and businesses. The municipally owned company was first out of the gate in Ontario to bring 1 Gig service to businesses in Muskoka towns in 2014. Now, with the help of the Federal-Provincial Small Communities Fund, it has gone one giant step further, connecting even out-of-town residential customers with the highest Internet speeds available, anywhere. It is the first Canadian company to make fibre to rural customers a reality. Lakeland has released a video telling the stories of such customers, whom for less than $100 can now upload, download and browse using their blazing fast fibre connection. With no data cap, streaming of movies, videos, and TV shows has never been easier. Included is a fully featured phone line for local and long distance calling. The attached video features Maria aka Nozie, who uploads her accordion performances in under five minutes from rural Bracebridge; Jennifer Maloney, a food blogger sharing recipes with large photos she could never have uploaded before, and who previously had little or no access to high speed ofany kind from her home east of Bracebridge; and Hannah, a High School student who used to struggle with uploading her homework essays but no longer. The ambitious $8.6 million project to extend Lakeland's existing fibre network was made possible with $5.7 million from the Small Communities Fund. Since being selected for funding a year ago, the company has managed to roll out another 100 kilometres of fibre optic in rural Bracebridge and Huntsville areas. "We are very thankful for our federal-provincial partnership which we hope to build on, to provide high speed internet to more customers in rural Muskoka and other parts of Ontario" says Chris Litschko, Chief Executive Officer, Lakeland Holding Ltd. "We're well ahead of plan both in fibre construction and customer connections due to the quality and commitment of our great team," continued Litschko. Lakeland Holding is owned by six municipalities, including Bracebridge, Huntsville, Parry Sound, Burk's Falls, Sundridge and Magnetawan. Since 2007, Lakeland Networks has expanded its infrastructure to over 400 kilometres of fibre. About Lakeland Networks Lakeland Networks, a division of Lakeland Energy Ltd. is a subsidiary of Lakeland Holding Ltd. which is owned by 6 local municipalities: Bracebridge, Huntsville, Parry Sound, Burk's Falls, Sundridge and Magnetawan. These municipalities amalgamated their electricity assets together to form Lakeland Power Distribution Ltd. (electricity distribution) and Bracebridge Generation (green waterpower electricity generation). Later, they created Lakeland Energy Ltd/Lakeland Networks to help support areas of business that needed assistance, providing services including high-speed fibre internet, VoIP phone service, point-to-point networking for business Internet, and full service IT and local area network and VLAN extension solutions. Facebook.com/Lakeland-Networks-1575613902688269/?fref=ts SOURCE Lakeland Networks 
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