The government of François Legault grants a third subsidy in less than a year to Starlink, which is controlled by the multi-billionaire Elon Musk. The sum obtained by the satellite internet service provider is now $136 million.
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The subsidy this time amounts to a maximum amount of $26,270,376, which is in addition to those of $21.6 million and $89 million granted in 2022.
“We have sold the first 15,000 sets quickly. The demand is stronger than we thought,” said Gilles Bélanger, parliamentary assistant to Prime Minister Legault responsible for Operation High Speed.
When the CAQ member speaks of “setshe refers to the Starlink Starter Kit and Satellite Saucer. Musk’s company manages to offer a connection of 100 megabits (Mbit/s) without download limits thanks to its low-orbit satellites.
Starlink is charging $140 per month for residential service as well as $759 for hardware, which is currently on sale at $350 across Canada.
The Quebec grant covers the purchase of materials (excluding shipping costs) as well as a reduction of $40 per month for 3 years.
Quebec households that qualify are those for whom a wired solution will never be possible or for whom the work to deploy the wired project is behind schedule.
This third grant will allow the addition of 10,000 subsidized households to the first 15,000. “The cost per household for this second agreement is reduced to $2,350 whereas it was $7,373 for the first component,” points out Gilles Bélanger.
Lots of delays
There are still 70,000 homes without a high-speed connection in Quebec, in particular because of the numerous delays in connection work.
“Whether it is Bell, Videotron, Cogeco, Sogetel or another of the 20 suppliers, there is a penalty clause that applies for each day of delay from September 30, 2022”, recalls the parliamentary assistant to the Prime Minister .
Quebec would have fetched more than $ 100 million thanks to these clauses, he says.
The CAQ had promised to connect all Quebec homes before September 30, 2022. The Legault government has invested more than $1.3 billion in its High Speed Operation.
As the delays multiply, it was necessary to ensure a temporary solution, hence the addition of 10,000 households to the subsidy offered to Starlink.
As Quebec will own the 10,000 new satellite saucers, the subsidy program could be expanded in the future.
Households that are not currently eligible, such as residences outside the Hydro-Québec network or small SMEs such as sugar bushes, would be included, for example.