Michael Geist’s column in the Toronto Star this week joins our call for the government to examine a national connectedness strategy as a way to use the windfall from the spectrum auction, as bidding approaches the $4B mark.
He suggests three uses, among them:
Third, a large chunk of the surplus could be allocated toward fulfilling the goal of ensuring that all Canadians enjoy access to high-speed networks. Canada’s broadband global ranking has been steadily declining in recent years with one-third of Canadian communities still without high-speed access. For those Canadians without access – whether in rural areas, or on the outskirts of major cities – the Internet’s potential for communication, commerce, access to knowledge and culture remains largely unrealized.
As Michael Sone and I suggested in our opening remarks at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit, the digital divide is not just a matter of connecting communities, but helping lower income Canadians get on-line, regardless of where they live.
As I asked in the opening remarks, will broadband policy find a place on the election platforms of various political parties this fall?