PomeGran's NIVO Aims to Supercharge Northern Ontario's Digital Future

TORONTO, ON – April 20, 2026 – PomeGran Inc. today unveiled a significant new initiative aimed at transforming the business landscape of Northern Ontario, launching NIVO for Business. The new suite of enterprise-grade fibre connectivity and communications solutions is designed to deliver high-speed, reliable internet to a region that has historically contended with a persistent digital divide.

NIVO, the customer-facing Internet Service Provider brand created by PomeGran, will now offer dedicated services for organizations, from small local shops to large institutions. The move signals a major push to provide the foundational infrastructure necessary for businesses in the region to compete in an increasingly digital global economy.

A Digital Lifeline for Underserved Businesses

For years, businesses across Northern Ontario have navigated the challenges of operating with inconsistent and often slow internet access. In an era where cloud computing, video collaboration, and data-driven operations are not just advantages but necessities, this connectivity gap has been a significant barrier to growth and innovation. NIVO for Business aims to directly address this challenge by leveraging PomeGran's expanding fibre-optic network.

The new service is structured in three distinct tiers to cater to a wide range of organizational needs:

• Small Business Fibre: Offering symmetrical 250 Mbps speeds starting at $99 per month, this tier is tailored for retail stores, professional offices, and emerging companies that rely on stable connections for point-of-sale systems, cloud applications, and daily digital communications.
• Medium Business Fibre: With 750 Mbps connectivity, this option is designed for organizations with greater bandwidth demands, such as manufacturing companies managing complex logistics, healthcare clinics handling large patient data files, and educational institutions supporting online learning.
• Enterprise Fibre: Providing a powerful 1.5 Gbps connection, this top tier is built for the most demanding users, including financial institutions, hospitals, universities, and government agencies that require scalable, multi-location networking and high-capacity data transmission.

Beyond raw internet speed, the NIVO for Business suite includes integrated communication tools like NIVO Business VoIP, which features unlimited calling across Canada and the United States, along with essential business functions like voicemail, caller ID, and number porting. This comprehensive offering positions NIVO as a single-source solution for the modern connectivity needs of Northern Ontario's businesses.

Building the Backbone: A Strategic Infrastructure Investment

The launch of NIVO for Business is not merely a new product release; it is the public-facing result of a massive, long-term infrastructure investment by PomeGran. Recognized as Canada's fastest-growing fibre-centric rural broadband provider, the company has made it its mission to build and own the networks that connect underserved communities.

A cornerstone of this strategy is the monumental $172 million Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) project targeting the Huron Shore and Manitoulin Island region. This ambitious undertaking, which broke ground in 2024, is funded through a combination of public and private investment, including $97 million from the federal Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) and Ontario's Improving Connectivity for Ontario (ICON) program. PomeGran is contributing a further $75 million, secured through partnerships with the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Stonebridge Financial Corporation.

The project's scope is vast, covering approximately 50,000 square kilometers and aiming to connect over 18,600 households, including more than 2,500 Indigenous households, with speeds of up to 25 Gbps. Critically, PomeGran is deploying an open-access network model. This allows multiple internet service providers to use the same shared fibre infrastructure, a strategy designed to foster a competitive market, increase consumer choice, and ultimately enhance affordability for residents and businesses alike.

"Reliable fibre connectivity is essential infrastructure for modern organizations," Dr. Kalai S. Kalaichelvan, Chairman & CEO of PomeGran, stated in the announcement. "Through NIVO for Business, we are enabling companies across Northern Ontario to access the high-performance networks they need to innovate, grow, and compete in a digital economy."

Shifting the Competitive Landscape

NIVO for Business enters a market traditionally dominated by a few major telecommunications giants and a patchwork of smaller regional providers. While incumbent players offer business services, their fibre footprint has often been concentrated in more densely populated urban centers, leaving many rural and northern businesses to rely on older, less reliable technologies.

PomeGran's infrastructure-first approach represents a strategic disruption. By building and owning the fibre network, the company controls the quality and availability of the service from the ground up. The tiered pricing and inclusion of VoIP services position NIVO to compete aggressively on value, offering enterprise-grade solutions in areas where they were previously unavailable or prohibitively expensive.

The integrated VoIP offering, for instance, aligns with competitive trends in the Canadian market, where providers offer unlimited North American calling as a standard feature for business plans. By bundling this with high-speed, symmetrical fibre, NIVO presents a compelling package for businesses looking to modernize their entire communications stack.

"As businesses adopt cloud platforms, digital collaboration tools, and data-driven operations, fibre connectivity becomes increasingly critical," said Luke Clare, Vice President of Business Development, Enterprise Solutions at NIVO. "With NIVO for Business, we are providing organizations with the reliable infrastructure they need to operate efficiently and scale for the future."

Empowering Communities and Fueling Regional Growth

The impact of this initiative is expected to extend far beyond individual businesses. The rollout of robust fibre infrastructure is widely seen as a catalyst for broad economic development, attracting new investment, enabling remote work, and improving access to education and healthcare services.

Partnerships with local communities have been central to the project's development. PomeGran has engaged with organizations like the non-profit H&M COFI and has worked closely with Indigenous communities to ensure the infrastructure build meets their specific needs and supports long-term growth and sovereignty. Leaders in communities like Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory have previously expressed strong support for PomeGran's efforts, highlighting the empowering effect that reliable broadband has on self-determination and economic opportunity.

The launch of NIVO for Business represents a tangible step toward leveling the economic playing field, ensuring that geography is no longer a barrier to participation in the digital-first economy. As the new fibre network lights up across select communities in Northern Ontario, it carries the potential to unlock a new era of innovation, productivity, and prosperity for the entire region.