By Ken Kelley
DESPITE BEING SEPARATED by the 49th parallel, both Canada and the United States are facing remarkably similar challenges when it comes to the widespread rollout of broadband internet service.
In an online roundtable discussion hosted by the Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications last week, CRTC chair Ian Scott and his American counterpart, Acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, compared notes and observations on what they are seeing in their respective countries.
“There was a time before this pandemic when a lot of policymakers thought broadband was just nice to have,” Rosenworcel began, “but those days are over. It’s now a need to have for everyone everywhere, and we have to figure out how to get it to 100% of the households in the United States.”
While both Canada and the U.S. face similar topographic challenges with ensuring all citizens have access to reliable broadband service, Rosenworcel said the cost of internet service is also a significant determining factor south of the border. This is in spite of the country’s rollout of a massive, albeit temporary, $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Fund, designed to provide lower-income Americans with discounts on monthly internet service and on the purchase of laptops and tablets.
“Focusing on deployment isn’t enough,” she said. “There are three times as many households in our urban and suburban communities that don’t subscribe to broadband because it costs too much. And because they’re being forced to make hard choices about groceries on the table, rent, money, transportation, and so they’ll let their internet service lapse. So, we have to figure out how to keep those households online.”
In the six weeks since the Emergency Broadband Fund began receiving applications, Rosenworcel said upwards of three million households enrolled, which she believes resoundingly demonstrates the need and demand to make internet service affordable for all Americans.
And while Canada’s Universal Broadband Fund continues doling out money to bring high-speed internet service to underserved Canadian communities, Scott said it is serving the Canadian population beyond the 100 miles of the Canada-U.S. border that is proving to be the most challenging.
“Right now, just under 90% of Canadians have access to 50-10 service and in fact, most have access to a much, much higher level of service,” Scott said, despite lingering questions about whether the 50-10 goal is sufficient for present day needs.
“About half of that number living in rural areas have that level of service available to them, and most troubling of all, is half of that, again, have access to those speeds in Indigenous communities. So that’s the real challenge, getting to those rural areas,” he added.
“The challenge of geography and demography in the U.S. are magnified here in Canada. The real challenge, both in Canada and the U.S., is getting to that last two or three per cent of the population. Both [Rosenworcel] and I are hopeful that emerging technologies will help [close the gap].”
