The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has made a significant step toward bringing all of rural Canada into the digital age.
Last week the CRTC made a landmark ruling that declared broadband Internet a basic service for all Canadians, putting it on the same footing as landline telephones as an essential service.
The CRTC has ordered all Internet service providers to provide download speeds of at least 50 megabytes per second (Mbps) and uploads of at least 10 Mbps to all Canadians – a 10-fold increase from the current minimums.
The commission plans to set up a $750 million fund that telecom providers will both contribute to and access in order to build the necessary infrastructure to serve rural and remote areas. Initially local telephone subsidies will be redirected to broadband.
Previously, rural communities have struggled to get broadband at all, let alone decent connection speeds. This has shut those communities out of opportunities for work, education, banking and business transactions that depended on reliable broadband Internet.
While the CRTC has set the goals, realizing them will be expensive, and will not happen overnight for the 18 per cent of Canadians who do not yet have access.
The commission wants to increase the number of Canadians covered to 90 per cent within four years and to all Canadians within 15 years.
The ruling was welcomed by one Sturgeon County councilor Wayne Bokenfohr, who said access to broadband will make county businesses more competitive with their city counterparts.
Lack of broadband Internet is hurting farmers in the pocketbook as well, said Bokenfohr, who is Sturgeon County council representative with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. If you click the sell button to sell crop at a certain price and you are on dial-up, the price could easily drop by the time your order is processed.
Nancy Suranyi of Namao Automotive & Repair said her workers find it quicker to walk documents to the front desk, because it is faster than waiting for them to come via the Internet.
CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said access to broadband Internet service is vital and a basic telecommunication service that all Canadians are entitled to receive. He said the CRTC is doing its part to bring broadband services to rural and remote areas.
Blais said it would not be easy and it will be costly. However, he emphasized the future of our economy, prosperity and society depends on connecting all Canadians for the 21st century.
While the news has been heralded by many rural Canadians, including aboriginal communities, critics say the CRTC has not done enough to make sure the new services will be affordable and will happen quickly enough. There is no specific timeline set and it is not yet clear how or where infrastructure will proceed.
Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said the CRTC decision is a starting place that is dependent on government and industry if it is to succeed.
This CRTC decision has emphasized the importance of putting rural Canadians on an equal footing with their urban cousins. Now it is time for government and industry to get to work linking all of rural Canada with the same services urban residents have been able to take for granted.
