High-speed Internet for all: CRTC
Ruling compels telecoms to help fund $750-million in broadband infrastructure
With its declaration that highspeed Internet is a basic service, Canada’s telecom regulator made official what everyone has known for a while — landlines are becoming irrelevant in this hyper-connected era.
In a much-anticipated decision released Wednesday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission declared all residents are entitled to access voice and broadband Internet services on fixed and mobile wireless networks.
The ruling compels telecommunications providers to help fund $750-million in broadband infrastructure in rural and remote areas over the next five years, sets ambitious speed targets and requires them to offer an unlimited data plan.
It also declared the latest wireless technology should be available on major roads and directed wireless providers to offer mobile services for people with disabilities within six months.
“These goals are ambitious, they will not be easy to achieve and they will cost money. But we have no choice,” chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said. “The future of our economy, our prosperity, our society — indeed the future of every citizen — requires us to set ambitious goals, and to get on with connecting all Canadians for the 21st century.”
The CRTC will mandate Internet speeds of 50 megabits per second (MBps) download and 10 MBps upload — 10 times faster than existing speed targets, which Blais said “didn’t cut it anymore” given the exploding demand for data.
To pay for this massive improvement in broadband service the regulator will stop subsidizing voice services and shift the money to broadband. The local voice subsidy, which was $100 million in 2016, will be phased out.
The CRTC will still collect the money from telecoms, but it will go to the $750-million fund.
The Telecommunications Act gives the CRTC the power to force any provider to contribute to a fund that supports access to basic services.
The CRTC stopped short of regulating retail Internet rates or setting a price cap for basic Internet service, much like the skinny basic television package it mandated earlier this year. Blais said regulation of wholesale rates is enough at this point.
“While there are still many details to be worked out, we are encouraged by this reasonable plan to help increase access to Canadians in hard to reach areas of our country,” Rogers senior vice-president David Watt said in a statement.
Bell said it was reviewing the decision and Telus did not respond to a request for comment.