The Manitoba government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Xplornet Communications to connect more than 125 thousand unserved or underserved Manitobans to reliable high speed internet services.      Manitoba Central Services Minister Reg Helwer says the agreement will provide broadband services to nearly 30 First Nations and approximately 270 rural and northern communities and will also serve 350 communities with cell phone access including along long stretches of transportation services as early as this fall using the thousands of kilometers of Manitoba Hydro fibre-optic cable across the province that has unused capacity.

The Manitoba government, Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Hydro Telecom are collaborating to finalize the contract in the coming weeks.