Broadband access in Canada has grown by leaps and bounds! In the past few years, the Thunder Bay-area Man’s concern for high-speed internet access became the talk of the town. This story advocates for the country’s broadband access.
According to OpenMedia, the broadband scene in Canada is both challenging and critical. The country has three major players to support and provide high-speed and high-quality internet access.
Katy Anderson, an advocate who focuses on the Internet of Things believes that Canadians take broadband access for granted. Anderson takes care of internet issues for many lobby groups. Anderson is quite certain that everyone in Canada needs access to the internet at some time or the other! This is why broadband access is taken for granted.
Anderson lives in Calgary. And, she comes across people who assume that internet is offered to everyone. She lives with people who assume great things about Canada’s broadband services. Unfortunately, not all Canadians have access to high-speed networks.
It is the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission’s responsibility to ensure that all Canadian households have access to the internet. CRTC has pulled together many plans on how to improve internet access in the country. The commission began this mission in the year 2016.
The Regulators Decisions
CRTC has advised all service providers to offer high-speed network access. The regional service providers should improve the speed and capacity of their broadband services. CRTC expects the major players to boost the quality of internet in isolated and rural regions. The commission declares high-quality internet access as a necessity. To be more precise, it is similar to landline and television packages.
An estimate made by CRTC revealed that 18% of Canadians have no access to high-speed internet. To be more precise, rural households are not offered the country’s modern standard. This means the rural households don’t have access to 50 megabits per second. And, they are not allowed to upload at 10 megabits per second.
The commission’s ultimate goal is to reduce the number of Canadians without high-speed internet access. CRTC expects to reduce the number of households without internet to 10% by the end of 2021. And, it wants to ensure that all households are offered broadband access by 2031. This is what CRTC considers as a big win,
The Commission considers the high-speed internet as an important element of the digital economy. It is a win for CRTC only when all Canadian households are covered. Katy Anderson added that many steps should be taken to achieve this goal. “Ultimatum” is considered as a primary step. Ultimatum requires stable and continuous funding. Indeed, this is a difficult national strategy.
Broadband services differ drastically from one area to another. Within Thunder Bay, you will come across different types and levels of services. In fact, there are prominent differences in the kind of internet offered. Common types of internet services are wireless broadband, satellite and fiber-optic wire (or copper). Each of these services is offered at diverse rates. However, not all regions have access to these different options.
Within a geographic location, you may or may not have access to high-speed internet.
Tbaytel is a renowned service provider in Northwestern Ontario. Tbaytel completely belongs to the City of Thunder Bay. Though Tbaytel may not be a major player in the broadband industry. Yet, it covers a considerable number of households. Tbaytel specializes in offering landline and television services to rural areas. Most rural municipalities in Canada are covered by Tbaytel. When compared to Canada’s three major broadband service providers, Tbaytel is both reliable and affordable.
Katie Crowe, the spokesperson of Tbaytel told that the company has upgraded in many ways. For instance, Tbaytel has migrated from copper wires to sophisticated broadband technology. Ms. Crowe revealed that broadband services via fiber optics are more stable and faster than copper wiring. By the end of 2018, fiber optic wiring will be established in rural areas like Shuniah, Oliver Paipoonge, and Neebing.
Tbaytel’s upgrades are not easy! To be more precise, the upgrades are definitely not cheap. Tbaytel is focusing on making simple and affordable upgrades.
Network upgrades depend on many factors. For example, it depends on the kind of hydro poles in the region.
Every Canadian city is special. According to CRTC, no two townships are the same. There are marked differences between every township. This makes the entire plan difficult and challenging. Towns bring unique challenges and offerings to the table. What can be done and achieved differs from one town to another! Ms. Crowe says that each township must be dealt separately. Network service providers must understand what each town offers and needs. The finished product has to be customized to suit the town’s actual requirements. In most cases, the Canadian townships need high-speed internet access.
Ms. Crowe clearly believes that all telecommunication service providers are committed to CRTC.
Tbaytel says that every telecommunications service provider needs help from the government. They need government support to push things forward and offer high-speed internet.
Ms. Crowe declares that high-speed internet services are established by businesses! And, these businesses need space and money. The country’s three major service providers should work across the country. With respect to the business case, the telecommunication service providers don’t need to worry about anything.
Both Ms. Crowe and Anderson find it difficult to justify the expenses. Undeniably, the project needs plenty of money. It is hard to cover all rural areas and satisfy the needs of picky customers. Yet, Canada is marching forward and is prepared to enjoy the “Big Win”.
Wireless broadband services and high-speed internet access are essential throughout Canada. Both rural and urban areas depend on high-quality internet services. In the next few years, hundreds of contracts will be signed and planned on how to offer high-speed broadband services to all customers. This is a revelation made by CRTC.
Moving on, CRTC promises 100 gigabytes of data for just 65 Canadian Dollars per month! This is definitely the future of broadband services in Canada.
For more details on Canada’s broadband journeys, visit https://www.acanac.com/’s blog.
