Xplore, a rural internet provider that has been building subsidized fibre networks across Canada, has obtained court protection from its creditors.
The company says existing customers will keep their current service, rates and support, and do not need to do anything. It also says its networks will keep running without disruption.
Xplore obtained an initial order on Tuesday under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. In plain terms, CCAA is a court-supervised process that lets a company restructure its debts and business while it continues to operate, instead of shutting down.
Xplore says the filing will let it rework parts of its business, including its fibre projects, and its capital structure. It also says the step is not a reflection of recent operating results.
The company’s fibre builds in rural and remote communities rely on government subsidies. Those projects, Xplore says, require hundreds of millions of dollars up front, while subsidy payments usually arrive near the end of construction. Permitting delays, other external challenges and that back-end payment timing have made it harder for the company to raise the money those projects need.
“We are looking forward to working collaboratively with our partners and stakeholders to reposition our fibre deployment projects to continue the very important work ahead of us,” said Brent Johnston, Xplore’s chief executive officer. “We intend to emerge from CCAA in a stronger position, so we can continue to build reliable high speed fibre internet for Canadians living in rural and remote communities.”
Those government-backed fibre builds include a more than $181 million project in Newfoundland and Labrador, where Xplore recently began connecting its first customers after Ottawa and the province agreed to cover nearly half the cost. The company has not said which fibre projects will be delayed or changed. It has also been expanding 5G fixed wireless service in rural Alberta.
Xplore says it has secured initial debtor-in-possession financing, a court-approved loan that lets a company keep operating during a restructuring. It did not disclose the amount. The company says that funding is meant to keep service going for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who rely on it.
Xplore is controlled by Stonepeak, a New York-based infrastructure investment firm. Stonepeak acquired a controlling stake in June 2020, when the company was still called Xplornet Communications.
In later company financing announcements, including one in June 2025, Xplore still described Stonepeak as its controlling shareholder, alongside other unnamed institutional investors. Tuesday’s creditor protection filing does not say that ownership has changed.
Xplore was founded in 2004 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, by brothers Bill and Ed Barrett. It started out as Barrett Xplore, and used satellite and fixed wireless networks to reach rural homes.
The company rebranded to Xplornet Communications in 2011. In September 2022, it changed its name again, to Xplore, as it put more weight on fibre and 5G service. It still offers satellite internet as well, though that service is not Starlink. It uses capacity on Hughes Network Systems’ Jupiter 3 satellite, which SpaceX launched for Hughes in July 2023. Xplore does not resell SpaceX’s network.
Xplore and SpaceX have instead been competitors for rural Canadian customers. In 2024, Ontario shortlisted the two companies for a provincial satellite internet contract and later awarded the deal to Starlink, before cancelling it the following year. In late 2025, some Xplore satellite customers in northern Ontario lost service after one of the company’s satellite partners shut down, and many of those households switched to Starlink. Tuesday’s creditor protection filing does not mention Starlink or SpaceX.
Xplore has offices in Markham, Ontario, and in several other cities, along with call centres in Woodstock and Fredericton. Its fibre projects have drawn support from federal and provincial programs, including the Universal Broadband Fund. In October 2024, the company closed a recapitalization that committed more than $1.6 billion in new funding, led by Stonepeak and including government support, to expand its rural fibre network.
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