Residents of the Municipality of North Norfolk will have improved internet service before the end of 2021.

The municipality's partnering with the Hutterian Broadband Network Incorporated to bring in fibre optic internet.

Mayor Gerald Barber says it's necessary because most of the municipality doesn't have access to high speed internet.

"MacGregor has been lucky enough to have service providers for that," he says. "But Austin and Sidney traditionally have limited service options. There's a plan to put up a minimum of four towers to service the rural, too. It would be a great benefit to the municipality, and we're hoping to get some new business into the municipality."

Barber notes the cost will be roughly $475,000.00.

"But the funding for this will be derived from the gas tax fund," he stresses. "There are a lot of stipulations on what you can use that money for, but improvements and construction of broadband internet fall into those categories."

Barber says this is a project they've been working on for over a year.

"We've had, I believe, four different options we could have gone to," he says. "This one seems to work the best. The actual backbone of the system will covered by the gas tax fund, so there won't be increased taxes to pay for this construction."

Here's more on the project.