Feds’ push to drive down costs of wireless services requires better data tracking
As the House Industry Committee digs into Rogers’ proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications, it would be useful for them to know that cellular service prices have fallen 25 per cent over the past five years, a decline that aligns with Ottawa’s promised wireless rate cut. This is important and surprising news for both Canadian consumers […]
Canada has a running start in the technology leadership race
As we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, Canadians are now depending more than ever on reliable connectivity to stay in touch, work, and conduct business. The pandemic has presented new challenges which increasingly require digital solutions, and have brought to the fore pre-existing discussions on the vital role of emerging technologies. The potential benefits […]
Time for Canada to catch up on technological transformation
Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman once quipped that “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.” He was referring to the fact that the wages of workers are intrinsically linked to productivity and that a country’s standard of living depends almost entirely on its ability to increase output per worker. Other […]
Rogers-Shaw merger potentially a bad sign for 5G rollout in Canada, experts and advocates say
The recently announced $26-billion merger between two telecom giants is likely a bad sign for 5G rollout in Canada, experts say, because of already relatively low spending from Rogers on the needed infrastructure for the new technology and the uncertain position it puts Shaw in with the upcoming spectrum auction essential to offering the speeds […]
AI and 5G
Bill C-10’s focus on foreign digital giants should not ignore domestic ones
Discussions on Bill C-10 make much of the fact that the Internet was only in its infancy when the Broadcasting Act was last amended 30 years ago and that none of today’s huge and hugely-influential foreign digital companies– like Netflix, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Spotify–existed or were contemplated at the time. While this is certainly […]
Conditions-based negotiations, renewed NATO troop commitments needed in Afghanistan
NATO defence ministers held discussions last week to address the military alliance’s mission in Afghanistan, reaffirming its commitment. The Taliban insurgent group has no incentives to compromise right now, and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s national army is intent on taking the war from the inner urban precincts to the districts in the unprotected countryside, ruled […]
Pandemic highlights needed change in broadband funding regime, says critic, access expert
As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its one-year anniversary, with Canadians flocking to Zoom, Call of Duty, and Netflix to manage work and life under lockdown, an internet policy expert and the NDP’s industry critic say the way Canada approaches bridging the digital divide is not working, and is falling hardest on rural and remote communities. […]
Collaborative effort needed to bridge the digital divide
Many Canadians in remote northern communities cannot depend on the internet for essential tasks for school or work, or for leisure activities like entertainment or social media. There is, in short, a deep digital divide between remote communities and the rest of the country. Historically, internet service providers (ISPs) have been the primary stakeholders tasked […]
Indigenous connectivity and federal funding: a priority or hope deferred?
In the Sept. 23, 2020, Throne Speech, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to invest $1.75-billion into internet connectivity for all Canadians, with a focus on rural and Indigenous communities as part of that priority. “The prime minister said the government is now on track to connect 98 per cent of Canadians to high-speed by 2026, […]
