Dufferin County has been awarded nearly $600,000 under the provincial government's "rural connections broadband program" to bring it closer to providing high speed internet service to as many residents as possible.

The funding is under the second round, and falls somewhat short of the county's hoped-for $1.- million. But Mono has gone its separate ways and has its own application filed for funding under the same program. Information was not available on Mono's application at press time.

If the county project works in the same fashion as the first phase, a selected service provider would be expected to invest at least $600,000 to match the provincial funds, and the county itself would contribute another $600,000 in "in kind" funding such as providing access.

Few details of how this second phase will progress were available immediately. CAO Linda Dean said the first step in the process would be to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for a consultant.

Ms. Dean could not say how quickly the project might get under way. But it would be intended to provide service to some of the areas missed for whatever technical reasons in the first round.