Public Accounts committee  They are very remote.

Public Accounts committee  I'll provide a brief answer, then ask my colleague Mr. Dagenais to offer a slightly more detailed response. We know there's a lot of work to be done when it comes to cellular coverage in rural areas. I'm not trying to suggest that there's no more work to be done, but even in rural areas, the vast majority of households have cellular coverage.

Public Accounts committee  At the moment we are on track. The first goal was in 2021. That goal was exceeded, and we're expecting to meet the next goal, which is in 2026. There's no evidence to suggest we will fall short of that one. The 2030 goal of 100% of Canadians covered is obviously further away. There will need to be additional technologies and resources to actually hit the 100%, but we are confident about getting to 98% by 2026.

Public Accounts committee  If we go back even just five years, about 86% of all households would have been connected to high-speed broadband. I should make a distinction because the focus of the universal broadband fund, and indeed the focus of the audit, is on wireline broadband access, not cellular coverage.

Public Accounts committee  If I could maybe just provide a brief overview, there's been just over $3 billion—

Public Accounts committee  Through the universal broadband fund, for example, there's been just over $3 billion of federal money allocated to support closing the gap, largely in rural, remote and indigenous communities, because that's where the market hasn't readily served those communities. When the government announced the universal broadband fund, a number of provinces stepped up virtually immediately to pledge to match the federal money.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, it's $5 billion in private and provincial dollars, so it's $8 billion in total. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with a number of provincial governments to try to coordinate our investments, so we're basically focusing on projects that we all agree are important, making sure that we combine our efforts and so on.

Public Accounts committee  I might turn to my colleague, who was leading some of the discussions with the provincial governments. I think that part of the success was a willingness of both levels of government to work together and coordinate their efforts. With the significant, frankly, provincial investments that were made to partner up with the federal government, we've been able to go much further in some jurisdictions, frankly, because the provincial government put money on the table.

Public Accounts committee  I would just note that the purpose in the universal broadband fund was to connect all Canadians to mobile wireline broadband, and that's the focus—

Public Accounts committee  I'll turn to my colleague Mr. Dagenais, who can speak to the reporting requirements.

Public Accounts committee  At the moment, there is not a target for cellular coverage, but there is an element of the plan that's focused on cellular coverage and we have some resources that we're deploying now to that end.

Public Accounts committee  That is the objective, yes.

Public Accounts committee  The current plan is focused on broadband access, wireline broadband access. There are funds that have been provided through the strategy for mobile. At this point, we are working to deploy those funds, but it's clear that more funding will be required to connect all major roadways with cellular coverage.

Public Accounts committee  We agreed, in response to the Auditor General, to take that back and look at that. We agree that mobile coverage is very important. The current focus of the strategy is wire line, but certainly, cellular coverage along major roads and critical areas is something that we believe is important.

Public Accounts committee  We have an element of the universal broadband fund that's focused on—