SpaceX has secured a $100 million contract to provide high-speed internet access to remote and northern areas of Canada. The contract was signed by the provincial Government of Ontario and will bring SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service to 15,000 homes and businesses in rural and northern regions of the province. The Starlink system is scheduled to go live in June 2025, with registrations starting next spring.
The government says it is paying the equipment and installation costs, but not monthly fees. Starlink’s satellite internet service was previously piloted in northern Ontario with the Pikangikum First Nation indigenous group. The remote community is only accessible by air or an ice road that’s open in winter.
The rollout of the satellite service is part of the Ontario government’s $4 billion plan to deliver high-speed internet to every part of the province. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019 and now has more than 7,000 satellites in low Earth orbit that can communicate with ground transceivers, providing high-speed internet in places where broadband cable can be difficult to install.
Starlink to connect rural Ontario
Infrastructure Ontario said the deal included a requirement that Starlink engage with Indigenous communities that could be served by the program. The engagement should also, where possible, create local economic opportunities, training, and jobs. Michael Lindsay, CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, emphasized that Starlink won after a “robust and transparent and competitive and fair technical and financial evaluation of multiple qualified parties.
The award of this significant contract to Musk’s internet business comes as the entrepreneur prepares to take a key role in Donald Trump’s second presidency.
During the campaign, Trump threatened to levy blanket tariffs of 10 percent or more on all goods coming into the U.S., with even heavier trade restrictions placed on Chinese goods. He also said he would look to renegotiate the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, NAFTA’s replacement. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has dismissed the threat of tariffs, suggesting he doesn’t think tariffs on products from the province are likely.
“He tried that last time and that didn’t last too long — it lasted about four weeks,” Ford said the day after Trump won the U.S. election. More information about the upcoming internet program and its rollout in rural Ontario will be provided in the spring.
