WHILE WE’VE YET TO hear back from the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Bell Canada or Telus – and Industry Canada hasn’t yet responded to our request for a better answer to our original question, Canada’s two largest cable companies have responded to our plea that our country come up with a plan to get broadband Internet access to low-income families.
As we reported, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission along with many cable companies and other contributors, have devised a program to offer broadband connectivity to low-income families for $9.95 a month. Dubbed Connect 2 Compete, the program will also provide the same families with inexpensive computers and some training. Families qualify for the program if they have a child enrolled in the National School Lunch program and aren’t already a broadband customer of the cable company ISPs. It is launching concurrently with the 2012-13 school year.
We have no such broadband plan for the estimated 500,000-plus Canadian families who can’t afford broadband.
“With regard to what is happening in the U.S., we think this approach is very interesting,” Rob Bruce, president of the cable and wireless division of Rogers Communications said in an e-mail to Cartt.ca. “We are doing some research to find out more about how this program is working. We are open to discussions with the government to explore options that could work for Canadians.”
Shaw, on the other hand, last week launched something different, with a similar goal. The company has just recently put into its cable markets a $49 triple play bundle of analog cable TV, a home phone line and 300 Kbps Internet.
“Ours is something to keep people connected,” said Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette in a telephone interview. “It’s basic phone, an Internet service that gives them the chance to check e-mail and browse and so on, and then a basic cable service as well… We looked at the market and saw a big void in this area and I think we’re the only ones who offer this type (of package).” Launched just last week with little fanfare, Bissonnette said it’s too soon to tell what sort of uptake it might see.
When we pointed out that 300 Kbps isn’t broadband, Bissonnette acknowledged that shortcoming. “It’s what our ‘Lite’ service used to be… you won’t be doing any streaming of video or anything but… if you need it for job searches or follow-up… in terms of value, the package is significant,” he said.
We pushed onward, asking if Shaw would get behind something like what is being rolled out in the States, featuring $9.95/month, 1 Mbps broadband for low income Canadian families? “We have this $49 triple play (Ed note: At $13 a month for each service, that’s a very low cost bundle)… and we think that is pretty compelling.
“We really think it’s a start… It’s about how we can keep people connected for a reasonable price. It acknowledges that (some customers) have limited financial resources and it’s out there now and we’ll see what kind of response we’ll get. But we’re always open to suggestions, always open to feedback from our customers, but we’ve said this is a good way to start to provide something for probably 10% of our customer base.”
The difference with the Shaw bundle here is that no one has to qualify for it, as families must under the FCC plan. Any Shaw Cable customer can choose this plan if they want.
So, this is some progress. A start. But we have a long way to go still. We’ll keep at it.
– Greg O’Brien
