Alberta Broadband Fund

Stream 1 - Closed

Stream 1, Service Availability Challenges, was centred on closing connectivity gaps in currently underserved communities.

Stream 1 was used to address communities where the community believed the delivered internet speeds are below the federal target of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads, despite federally mapped service availability claims indicating target speeds are available.

To be eligible for funding, applicants were required to prove that mapped speeds indicated on the federal broadband service availability map are inaccurate. Submissions required applicant verification that broadband services are:

• Not and will not be available through current service providers
• Not accessible to a sizable portion of existing or new households in the area

Eligibility

In addition to the basic eligibility outlined above, applications had to meet additional criteria:

• Must be submitted by a community or internet service provider
• Must use ABF templates to provide evidence that clearly demonstrates minimal federal target speeds are not available from any service providers in the area
• Must receive written endorsement of the evidence from Government of Alberta staff
• Must improve internet speeds in an area that does not have access 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads.
• Must not include areas with access to federal target speeds, except for areas where challenges have been endorsed.
• Must provide open access to Points of Presence that are components of the project.
• Must not include any areas or households that are recipients of any other federal or provincial broadband funding programs. Examples include but are not limited to:
  • UBF, including its Rapid Response Stream
  • The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Broadband Fund

Stream 2 - Closed

This stream is closed. Under the Stream 2 call for interest, the Governments of Alberta and Canada invited eligible applicants under the UBF to express their interest in developing a proposal to connect underserved households in areas of the province without access to Internet speeds of 50/10 Mbps.

Stream 2 focused on the most densely populated areas without service as indicated on the attached map. Densely populated areas outside of this map were either already considered served or to be served through existing projects, including those under the UBF.

Under the UBF, eligible applicants were:

1. Canadian entities or groups of Canadian entities that operate broadband infrastructure; or
2. Canadian entities or groups of entities that do not operate broadband infrastructure but have identified a plan to engage an entity or group of entities with experience building, owning, and operating the infrastructure their project(s) is proposing may also be eligible.

When the stream was open, eligible applicants were invited to submit expressions of interest by November 8, 2024.

For more information visit:

• Universal Broadband Fund – English
• Universal Broadband Fund – French