Post Tagged with: "broadband"

Moving Targets: CRTC Sets Universal Broadband Access Target By Year End But Govt Plan Is For 2019

The federal government released its Report on Plans and Priorities for 2014-15 today with departments and agencies identifying spending estimates and work priorities. The CRTC’s report offers some interesting insights into its main activities and targets, particularly with respect to broadband access.

The latest CRTC broadband target is for 100% of Canadian households to have access to broadband speeds of 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload by December 31, 2014. That target is a year ahead of schedule as last year’s report set the 100% target for the end of 2015. The new target is also difficult to reconcile with the government’s announcement that it plans to spend $305 million over the next five years to extend broadband to rural and remote areas. In fact, last week reports suggested that Industry Minister James Moore and the government had established a target of 2019 for universal access to broadband. If the CRTC target is achieved, the government’s broadband plans and targets would appear already outdated. Interestingly, Industry Canada’s report includes a target of 77% of the population with broadband subscriptions (not access) by March 2015, but broadband is defined is only 1.5 Mbps or higher.

March 6, 2014 — 5 comments — News

Canadian Government To Commit More Money Toward Rural Broadband Initiatives

The CBC is reporting that the 2014 federal budget, which is scheduled to be tabled tomorrow, will feature money to “extend or improve high-speed Internet access to 280,000 households and businesses in rural and remote areas.” A new commitment to broadband access, which was promised in last fall’s speech from […]

February 10, 2014 — 6 comments — News

Rogers Reveals, Part Two: Broadband Internet Prices to Increase, Unlimited Plans “Short-Sighted”

While much of the focus of yesterday’s Rogers quarterly call was on the wireless sector (see part one on roaming rates), it should be noted that company executives indicated that consumer broadband Internet prices – which the OECD recently reported were among the ten most expensive in the developed economy world – will continue to increase. Moreover, the company called unlimited bandwidth offers “short-sighted” and recent price increases just one step in the efforts to monetize broadband services.

July 25, 2013 — 14 comments — News

OECD Report: Canada Still Among Ten Most Expensive Countries for Broadband Internet Services

Yesterday I blogged twice about the 2013 OECD Communications Outlook, a major international report issued once every two years with detailed comparative data on telecommunications throughout the developed economy world. My first post noted that Canada’s wireless performance ranks poorly, as it is among the most ten most expensive countries within the OECD in virtually every category and among the three most expensive countries for several standard data only plans. After Telus responded to my post, I followed up with a second post that examined some of the Telus-specific data used by the OECD. Those measures ranked Canada as the 2nd most expensive of 7 countries for 1 GB of wireless data (at speeds Telus customers are likely to receive) and the second most expensive of 19 countries for 500 MB of wireless data for tablets (again at speeds Telus customers are likely to receive).

The OECD report also includes comparative data on broadband services with Canada ranked among the ten most expensive countries in virtually every tier (note that the OECD measures the cost by purchasing power parity so that differences in income are factored into the analysis). For example, for plans offering 54 GB of data per month at speeds of 45 Mbit/second, Canada ranks as the 9th most expensive in the OECD. Move down a notch to 42 GB of data per month at 30 Mbit/second and Canada is the 8th most expensive country in the OECD. At slower speeds, Canada remains expensive – 33 GB of data per month at 15 Mbit/second is the 11th most expensive and for 18 GB of data per month at 2.5 Mbit/second it is the 9th most expensive.

July 16, 2013 — 18 comments — News

Government Trumpets Declining Wireless Prices, but Canada Still Middling in Global Comparisons

The 2013 Wall Communications Report on Canadian wireless and Internet pricing, produced annually for the CRTC and Industry Canada, was released yesterday. The study generated headlines on declining costs for wireless services, with Industry Minister Christian Paradis claiming that government policies were delivering lower prices for consumers. The key takeaway came from yet another shot across the telecom bow from the government:

Our plan is working: important progress has been made and Canadian families are seeing the benefits. The Harper Government will not let this progress be lost or undermined. We will continue. We will not hesitate to use any and every tool at our disposal to protect consumers and promote competition in every region of the country.

The continued focus on wireless competition will be needed since the Wall Communications report also found that Canada is middling at best relative to the other countries in the survey (US, UK, France, Australia, and Japan). In fact, Canada is described as being “on the high side” for virtually every key category, with only the U.S. faring consistently worse.

July 5, 2013 — 1 comment — News