By Riley Maracle
BELLEVILLE – A project to improve Internet and cellphone service in Eastern Ontario has received world recognition.
The Eastern Ontario Regional Network – created by the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, representing 13 counties – was shortlisted for the Broadband World Forum’s award for Broader Penetration of Broadband Into a Given Area. The EORN project was one of five on the short list for the award; in the end, the winner was communications giant British Telecom. The awards were handed out in Amsterdam last week.
Lisa Severson, the communications and stakeholder relations officer for EORN, was in Amsterdam for the awards. She said it is an honor to receive the recognition.
“It was fabulous just to even be recognized,” she said. “It was exciting for us.”
Hastings County Warden Rick Phillips said that the wardens group found out that EORN was on the short list around two months ago. He added that this recognition sums up the work that has been done.
“We are very happy with the way the project went,” he said. “Being top five in the world in a news release is a tremendous honour for all of us and it’s just a tribute to the hard work that everyone has done to service the residents and businesses in Eastern Ontario.”
The wardens caucus has said it hopes EORN’s Internet project will be fully completed in 2014. The new goal for the project is to improve cellphone service in Eastern Ontario.
Severson says that being recognized on a world scale for this award will help with the cellphone project.
“It’s definitely something that we can promote with the federal and provincial governments as well as the private sector to show, ‘You know what? We’re getting world recognition. Would you not want that type of thing?’ ”
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