EORN Reports Back To Frontenac County On Cell Gap Coverage

Jeff Green | May 21, 2025

The goal of the cell gap project is to achieve 99% coverage on major roadways, 95% with enough coverage to achieve “standard definition” – enough service to do email, web browsing and basic social media services, and 85% high definitions services, support streaming, etc.

The program was supported by $71million each in provincial and federal funding, $10 million came from Eastern Ontario municipalities, and Rogers Communications was committed to investing a minimum of $150 million.

Just over half of the 258 new towers have been built, including a new one that came on stream in Central Frontenac in mid-May, 311 existing towers have been upgraded with new equipment. The project also included 74 co-locations, where Rogers is installing its equipment on a tower that is owned by Bell or Telus. Of those, 64 have been completed. Overall, the project is 80% completed.

One of the unexpected benefits of the project has been the introduction to many cottage residents  “really good, stable, wireless Internet access as well,” said EORN Chief Executive Officer Jason St. Pierre, “to a special virtual joint meeting of Frontenac County Council that was held on May 14 over Zoom. In addition to members of Frontenac County Council, council members from the four Frontenac townships were invited to the meeting.

Frontenac County made an investment of $390,000 as their share of project funding.

“For that, we see an investment of $17 million between the two upper tier levels of government and Rogers,” said St. Pierre.

The Frontenac County project includes 13 new builds. Eight of those have been installed and are in service. There were also 13 upgrades, which are all completed, and there are 6 co-locations scheduled, 4 of which have been completed.

The 8 towers still to be constructed in Frontenac County in 2025 and 2026 include 2 in Central Frontenac – Ardoch road and 509 (2026) and Long Lake Road and Middle Road (2025). There are also 2 in North Frontenac, both of which have been in the news recently: Mattawatchan and Wilson (2026) and Sunday Lake Road and Cruise Road (2025). Finally, there are three in South Frontenac: Devil Lake Road and Little Wolfe Lake (2025), Westport Road and White Lake (2025) and Moreland Dixon and South Frontenac  Road 12 (2026).

Of the two co-locations left to be completed, both are in North Frontenac, one at Smith Road (2025) and one at Canonto Road, near Ompah (2026)

When the project is completed, the vast majority of Frontenac County will be covered with high definition service suitable either for Internet on the go, directly through their cell phones, or reasonable and secure wireless Internet service from the same source signals.

The proviso, based on what Jason St. Pierre told the special meeting, is that the service is offered for Rogers customers. For their investment, which was more than the $150million required by the grants, Rogers gained a leg up on their competition in Frontenac County and across Eastern Ontario, on their competitors, both in the cell and home Internet markets.

The presentation ended with a slide showing the amount of full high definition coverage that will be available in Frontenac County once the project is completed on July 1, 2026 (see maps). There is a relatively large gap in the northeast corner of Frontenac County near the Calabogie area, as well as in the Crown Land north of Ompah. There are smaller patches in the 5th Lake area of Central Frontenac, southwest of Westport in the vicinity of Wolfe Lake, as well as east of Frontenac Park and Battersea in the Southeast corner of the county.

It is important to note that the orange sections on this map mark strong levels of service, and the white sections are not cell dead zones, just ones where cell service is limited to calling/texting, email and basic Internet browsing.

After the presentation, Frontenac Islands Mayor Judich Greenwood-Speers asked why there has been no apparent improvement in Wolfe Island.

Jonathan St. Pierre asked if Greenwood-Speers, who is not a Rogers customer, could see if there has been improvement on the Rogers network on Wolfe Island.

He acknowledged, in line with an issue that Greenwood-Speers has raised in the past. That Wolfe Island, like other communities along the St. Lawrence, faces a challenge from the signals coming across the United States interfering with signals on the Canadian side.

St. Pierre also briefly discussed the future of EORN, which has no major infrastructure project lined up once the Cell Gap project is completed next year.

He said there are four areas that EORN is exploring in an effort to capitalise on the expertise developed over 15 years under the EORN banner.

Project management services, infrastructure project services, technology services support, and direct municipal support are all key service areas identified in both a recent strategic plan completed by EORN, and a change to the corporation's letters patent.

EORN was created and answers to a board appointed by the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, of which Frontenac County is a charter member. Former Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith has served on the EORN board, and is the current Vice Chair of the Board.