{"id":4122,"date":"2010-11-19T06:58:31","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T11:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=4122"},"modified":"2017-01-24T13:25:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T18:25:24","slug":"solving-the-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=4122","title":{"rendered":"Solving the digital divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to return to\u00a0the letter to the editor<\/a> by the Michael Ignatieff.\u00a0Yesterday, I said in passing<\/a> that there were a number of issues arising from the Opposition Leader’s approach.<\/p>\n

Here is the full text of the letter:<\/p>\n

This summer, while I crisscrossed the country on the Liberal Express, rural Canadians told me the struggles they face without access to high-speed Internet (Disconnected: Canada\u2019s Digital Divide<\/a> \u2013 Nov. 16). We often experienced this first hand when our bus left city limits. Today the Internet is a critical tool to connect citizens to banking, tourism, education and health services. Without it, communities cannot develop their economies and create jobs and opportunity for their citizens. Canadians without adequate Internet service will become second-class citizens.<\/p>\n

Last May, I outlined my party\u2019s commitment to dedicate $500-million from the next spectrum auction to achieve the goal of 100 per cent high-speed Internet connectivity within three years, and expand mobile phone coverage for rural Canada.<\/p>\n

All Canadians should have equal opportunity to succeed, no matter where they live. We must take leadership now to make access to high-speed Internet universal for all Canadians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The linkage between the next spectrum auction and rural broadband is important. The way the licenses are divided will determine whether rural service providers will be able to compete for spectrum to deliver next generation broadband.<\/p>\n

You can’t experience rural broadband challenges first hand when travelling on a bus, without first acknowleding that mobile broadband is indeed a way to provide service to rural Canadians. Along with other wireless technologies, mobile\u00a0service is\u00a0part of the solution for rural and remote areas. But as those on board the Liberal Express discovered, some of the\u00a0companies that\u00a0have spectrum aren’t deploying services for universal coverage.<\/p>\n

The way spectrum has been getting auctioned, rural areas are bundled in with the urban centres. So, the carriers who\u00a0buy more spectrum to serve the densely populated\u00a0big cities end up controlling the less dense areas as well – in a sense, they get the rural licenses for free.\u00a0How can we ensure that rural spectrum isn’t being hoarded without being deployed to the benefit of rural residents?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let’s also be sure that\u00a0we are\u00a0setting expectations appropriately. I hope this isn’t news for you – not every Canadian will have access to fibre optic gigabit speeds, despite\u00a0such speeds\u00a0being available in the urban areas. This is a reality. We need to stop viewing differences in internet delivery as creating different classes of Canadians.<\/p>\n

In any case, the challenge of connecting a rural health clinic is very different from connecting all Canadians who live in sparsely populated remote and rural areas. What is affordable ultra-high connectivity for that health clinic is very different from what a consumer might be willing to pay. Rural Canadians don’t need gigabit speeds to benefit from e-Health; Costco won’t be selling MRI machines to have people transmit their diagnostic images from home so let’s get real. Most of the applications mentioned by the Opposition Leader aren’t bandwidth intensive and some, such as banking,\u00a0don’t even need broadband.<\/p>\n

The letter speaks of economic opportunities that arise from internet connectivity, but ignores the biggest problem facing Canadian connections: the large number of Canadians who don’t subscribe to services at their doorstep.<\/p>\n

When will we see policy proposals that focus on broadband adoption, rather than broadband plumbing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to return to\u00a0the letter to the editor by the Michael Ignatieff.\u00a0Yesterday, I said in passing that there were a number of issues arising from the Opposition Leader’s approach. Here is the full text of the letter: This summer, while I crisscrossed the country on the Liberal Express, rural Canadians told me the struggles …<\/p>\n

Solving the digital divide<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSolving the digital divide • Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I want to return to\u00a0the letter to the editor by the Michael Ignatieff.\u00a0Yesterday, I said in passing that there were a number of issues arising from the • November 19, 2010\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=4122\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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