To improve public safety and telecommunications services, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and Jean Boulet, Minister Responsible for the Nord-du-Québec Region, have announced $56,907,036 in joint funding to Eeyou Mobility to extend cellular coverage on several roads in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region.
Almost $37 million in funding for the first phase of the project will provide coverage along 47% of the region's 1900 kilometres of highways in the region, with 30 tower sites in particular along the Billy-Diamond Highway, Routes 113, 167, 109, a part of Route du Nord. A cell site is also planned for the km 381 roadstop on the Billy-Diamond Highway.
In the second phase, $20 million will be used to improve coverage, with 16 new cell sites planned along access roads to communities. The construction of these strategic sites is intended to provide service for Cree traplines, hunting and fishing zones, and industrial and mining sites.
