Xplornet CEO calls for 100% Internet penetration by 2020

TORONTO — Different government branches have their own goals for how many Canadians should have certain Internet speeds by certain dates; Xplornet Communications Inc. CEO Allison Lenehan raised the ante on Wednesday. During a keynote speech at the Canadian Telecom Summit, Lenehan said the goal of the government and the telecom industry should be to get 100 per cent of Canadians online with speeds of at least 100 Mbps by 2020. “Just imagine how Canada could leapfrog the world socially, economically and artistically,” Lenehan said. “Then our limits are no longer technology nor geography, but our imaginations.” It marked an upgrade from Xplornet’s current goal of making 25 Mbps Internet available to all rural Canadians by 2017, he noted. Xplornet’s market is rural Canada where there are more infrastructure challenges to getting broadband Internet than in major cities. Lenehan said Wednesday that the company provides connections to about 250,000 homes and businesses, serving around 600,000 people. Government targets on national Internet access include the CRTC’s objective, issued in 2011, to provide all Canadians with access to download speeds of at least 5 Mbps by this year, and Industry Canada, in its 2014 plans-and-priorities document, aimed to have 77 per cent of the population on broadband subscriptions of 1.5 Mbps or higher by March 31 of this year. Industry Canada says on its website that more than 99 per cent of the population currently has access to such speeds, and the goal is now to make 5 Mbps available to 98 per cent of the country. Industry Canada has a $305-million program in place to get 280,000 additional homes in rural, remote and northern locations on broadband Internet connections with speeds of at least 5 Mbps. It said last month that progress is going better than expected, and it is likely to add 356,000 homes in this process, with most of the work slated for 2017. It tweeted that costs have fallen to $185 million. Industry Minister James Moore’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on Lenehan’s challenge. CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao noted in an email the CRTC’s ongoing review of what should be considered a basic telecommunications service and that “we encourage all views on what services Canadians need and what are the considerations and barriers to having those services available.” Lenehan said the main challenge of achieving his goal of getting everyone on 100 Mbps service by 2020 is not technological or economical, but rather one of adoption. “There is 100 per cent access with the capability to build more network, yet 20 per cent of Canadians are not connected, regardless of whether they live in our big cities or in our rural towns,” Lenehan said. “What do we need to do to engage and entice all Canadians to participate in the digital world?” Xplornet purchased $24.4 million worth of spectrum in the 2500 MHz auction that wrapped up last month, which Industry Canada said boosted the company’s spectrum holdings by 62 per cent. Lenehan on Wednesday praised the government for designing the auction in such a way that ISPs such as his could buy spectrum to serve rural areas without being forced to pay for urban access as well. “Historically, rural providers have had a difficult time competing the mobile carriers as the spectrum was either inaccessible or you had to buy Toronto — the city of Toronto — to serve Port Perry; clearly an unwinnable solution for a rural broadband company,” he said. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca

Xplornet CEO calls for 100% Internet penetration by 2020

News | June 3, 2015

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Xplornet CEO calls for 100% Internet penetration by 2020

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