Toronto Hydro Sheds Fiber, Wi-Fi Network to Cable Operator

Toronto Hydro to sell telecom division to Cogeco Cable: The Toronto utility, itself created as a kind of above-board financial shell game to move money around in the city’s budget, can’t proceed on telecom plans through its Toronto Hydro Telecom division due to rules that disallow capital investment from electricity revenues.

Toronto Hydro has a very well-built network across 6 sq km that Novarum has rated the highest consistent bandwidth network in the U.S. In one square mile, the company had installed about 3 to 4 times the numbers of nodes of most city networks, and that showed. Affordable? Perhaps not. But the service worked. However, the network hasn’t brought in enough subscribers to expand, and the capital restriction prevents that.

Cogeco, the fourth-largest Canadian cable system operator, will primarily be spending Cdn$200m on a 450 km fiber-optic network. The company passes 1.5m homes in Ontario and Quebec, although subscriber numbers aren’t disclosed. (More detail here.)

The deal seems like a boon for Toronto, which will get Cdn$75m that’s earmarked right now by the mayor for public housing, while the electrical utility will upgrade its distribution network with the remainder of the funds.

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