CRTC, Industry Canada at odds on universal broadband access timeline

Documents from three different branches of government give three different timelines for achieving near-universal access of broadband Internet services in Canada. In the CRTC’s latest plans and priorities document, released Thursday, the regulator called for 100 per cent of households in the country to have access to broadband with speeds of at least 5 Mbps for downloading and 1 Mbps for uploading by the end of this year. The CRTC clarified in an email Friday that target should have been 95 per cent. Yet the regulator stuck by an earlier projection of universal broadband access by the end of 2015, still at odds with government projections. In the latest budget, the government set 2019 as the date for “near universal access” and pledged to spend $305 million over the next five years to extend broadband to 280,000 households. “Although the CRTC's target date has not changed, we are continuing to monitor progress towards this objective and will be taking a closer look at our broadband target later this year as part of a review of basic telecommunications services,” said CRTC spokesman Eric Rancourt. The industry minister’s office declined to comment on the inconsistency. More information about the government’s plans will be released in the long-awaited digital economy strategy, which Industry Minister James Moore has already teased, and which The Wire Report reported is ready and expected to be released imminently. The department itself has a third timeline for broadband access by Canadians. In its own plans and priorities document, also released Thursday, Industry Canada said it aims to have 77 per cent of the population on broadband subscriptions of 1.5 Mbps or higher by March 31, 2015. The CRTC’s plans and priorities document also includes breakdowns of individual departmental priorities and the spending allocated to each one. The CRTC promised to update the rules for creating and broadcasting “diverse” and “compelling” Canadian content, and to stay vigilant in policing broadcasters for such violations. The regulator projects spending of a bit more than $16 million per year until 2017 on supporting Canadian content and pursuing violators of their policies. Earlier this week, the CRTC alleged that several video-on-demand services for adult films weren’t fulfilling their Cancon obligations. The CRTC also plans to spend $7.3 million per year until 2017 to enforce its rules on unsolicited commercial communications via services such as the do-not-call list and anti-spam legislation that will come into force July 1, 2014. — With reporting by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

CRTC, Industry Canada at odds on universal broadband access timeline

News | March 7, 2014

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CRTC, Industry Canada at odds on universal broadband access timeline

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