Northern Ontario faces digital divide, study finds

Residents of northern Ontario are still underserved when it comes to internet rollout, a new study maintains. The Blue Sky Economic Growth Corp. has released its Northern Ontario Broadband Report 2023. It cites the federal auditor general’s report which found that while 90.9 per cent of homes have access to the 50/10 Mbps standard heralded by the federal government, in rural areas it is only 59.5 per cent and on First Nations communities a mere 42.9 per cent. While Blue Sky concedes that the Canadian and Ontario governments are working diligently to roll out broadband, subsidies and unique technology solutions are necessary in northern parts of the province to achieve the goals of full connectivity. The report used the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) internet performance test to collect data on internet speeds in the region. For broadband access numbers, Blue Sky relied on the federal census and the department of innovation, science and economic development’s (ISED) broadband data portal. Information on announced and in-progress projects was culled from the federal government’s Universal Broadband Fund and the provincial government’s Accelerated High Speed Internet Program. The study found that of 285 communities in northern Ontario, only 74 have 50 per cent of households with access to 50/10 speeds. Forty seven of the 74 communities have at least 75 per cent of homes with broadband speeds of 50/10. There are currently 73 announced, in-progress or completed broadband projects in the area. Over 31,000 speed tests were conducted from 2020 to 2022. They discovered that the median download speed has increased from 4.88 Mbps to 20.21 Mbps. Among the reasons cited for the improvement is the COVID pandemic forcing people to improve their access by upgrading their packages; investment in broadband projects by governments; and the entry of new players in the market, especially Starlink. The data only includes infrastructure owners and not internet resellers. Similarly, satellite and cellular internet providers are excluded as ISED does not recognize these as part of broadband infrastructure. “Blue Sky Net recognizes that high-speed broadband is not a ‘one solution fixes all’ landscape and that a diverse array of technologies will be required in order to ensure the 50/10 Mbps broadband access target for every household is achieved,” the report concludes. The federal government is seeking to have 98 per cent of Canadians linked to high-speed internet by 2026. The Ontario government’s goal is to have all Ontarians connected by 2025. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Northern Ontario faces digital divide, study finds

News | June 1, 2023

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Northern Ontario faces digital divide, study finds

News | June 1, 2023

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