Ford government inks $100M deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink system

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Ford government inks $100M deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink system

Ford government inks $100M deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink system

The Ford government has signed a deal worth roughly $100 million with Elon Musk’s Starlink company to provide high-speed internet to parts of northern and rural Ontario.

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On Thursday, the province announced Starlink had won a competitive bidding process to run a satellite-based internet program for roughly 15,000 households and businesses beginning in June 2025.

“Our government is pleased to work with Starlink to offer a highly advanced satellite internet service that will help people living and working in the hardest to reach areas of the province access high-speed internet,” Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure, said in a statement.

“Our government knows how essential it is to have access to online services and supports, which is why we are using all viable options and technologies, including fibre, fixed wireless and satellite to ensure every community across the province has access by the end of 2025.”

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Surma also said the value of the deal was roughly $100 million, with registrations for the program set to begin in the spring.

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Starlink uses low-orbiting satellites to deliver fast internet in places where traditional connections are harder to install and maintain. It is run and engineered by SpaceX, which also oversees Musk’s rocket program.

Infrastructure Ontario said the deal included a requirement that Starlink engage with Indigenous communities which could be served by the program. The engagement should also, where possible, create local economic opportunities, training and jobs.

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Starlink has already demonstrated the technology in northern Ontario, through a rollout to the Pikangikum First Nation in 2020.

The award of the significant contract to Musk’s internet business comes as the entrepreneur prepares to take a key role in Donald Trump’s second presidency, in charge of a department responsible for finding government waste.

Musk took centre stage during the election campaign, advising Trump, promoting his content on his social media platform X and appearing with him.

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SpaceX — which is in charge of the Starlink program — won after a “robust and transparent and competitive and fair technical and financial evaluation of multiple qualified parties,” said Michael Lindsay, CEO of Infrastructure Ontario.

The Trump administration Musk is set to be a part of has promised to introduce fees on all foreign imports, including those from Ontario.

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During the campaign, Trump threatened to levy blanket tariffs of 10 per cent or more on all goods coming into the U.S., with even heavier trade restrictions placed on Chinese goods. He also said he would look to renegotiate the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, NAFTA’s replacement. The trade pact is up for renegotiation in 2026.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has dismissed the threat, suggesting he doesn’t think tariffs on products from the province are likely.

“He tried that last time and that didn’t last too long — it lasted about four weeks,” Ford said the day after Trump won the U.S. election.

— with files from The Canadian Press

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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