Earlier this week a study came out from Harvard [Waring: PDF] that basically highlighted what everybody in Canada already knows (and I’ve pointed out on a couple of occasions). Canada is behind the curve when it comes to broadband. This lead to a rather interesting editorial in the Globe And Mail this past Sunday. Here’s a sample of what they had to say:
In the economic race among nations, widespread Internet access, and its fast, reliable and cheap provision to the most people, is a prerequisite for success. And Canada is falling behind. If we are to compete, it will take new policies, new vision from corporations, the federal government and its regulators, and a national collective will to compete.
That’s something that I’ve been saying for a while. Rogers for one doesn’t see things that way and shot back a very terse response to The Globe And Mail from Rogers V.P. of public affairs, Jan Innes on Wednesday:
For Canada to win in a global digital economy, our country needs to establish a national vision that looks beyond the often-flawed statistical rankings of broadband infrastructure. What we need to understand is why so many Canadian households still don’t have computers, why Canada is lagging in scientific research, and how we should best promote the development of Canadian content and applications.
You know, every time I keep hearing about a study that highlights the fact Canada is behind the curve when it comes to broadband access, the number one excuse that I keep hearing from Canadian telcos is that the study is flawed. If you the telcos think that’s the case, then show us an independent study from a source that everybody respects that supports your view that the Harvard study is flawed and maybe some points of view may change. But in the meantime, here’s my $0.02 worth. I’ve got customers in Canada, the US, and several European countries. I’ve used broadband Internet services in all those countries and from my perspective, Canada sucks when it comes to broadband Internet services. Compared to what is available in places like France and Germany, we’re in a digital wasteland. The only reason that it’s being denied by telcos like Rogers is that they really don’t want the federal government to wake up and say “You know, we need to take control of this before we fall too far behind the rest of the planet. Let’s pass some legislation to make this happen.” But legislation is the only way that this issue will get fixed as the telcos have proven that they want to give consumers less product for more money.
The only question, how long will Canadian broadband users have to wait for this to happen?
Globe And Mail Posts A Response To Harvard Internet Study… Talk About FUD
Posted in Commentary with tags Broadband, Canada on March 7, 2010 by itnerdMan. The Globe And Mail has really changed their tune. You’ll remember that when this study came out from Harvard [Warning: PDF] that showed that Canada was way behind the rest of the world when it came to Internet access, Rogers and The Globe And Mail traded shots of the accuracy of the study. Now there’s an essay that has The Globe And Mail singing from a different song sheet:
Canada has a true broadband penetration rate of close to 70 per cent of households. And North Americans use the Internet somewhat more intensively than do Europeans, according to Cisco Systems data on Internet traffic. Further, business Internet traffic in North America appears to be at levels substantially higher than elsewhere in the world. Sadly, there is little systematic effort by international agencies to measure the intensity of Internet usage.
Instead, we see comparisons of advertised speeds and “price per advertised megabit,” which are especially misleading. Advertised broadband speeds vary from actual speeds. In North America, this is largely a result of “network overhead,” and is quite modest. In Europe, however, the variation is often dramatic.
Hmmm…. Let’s think about this for a second. The Globe And Mail which bills itself as “Canada’s National Newspaper” is owned by CTV/Globemedia who has Bell Canada Enterprises as one of their owners. Bell Canada Enterprises in turn owns Bell Internet which was indirectly ripped by the Harvard study. I’m guessing that someone within Bell Canada Enterprises dialed up someone in the management level of The Globe And Mail and gave them heck. Thus the appearance of this rather dubious essay after they traded shots with Rogers using some fairly good arguments. I don’t have any proof that this happened. But when a really reputable newspaper like The Globe And Mail does a one-eighty like this and puts out the FUD that’s in this article, you have to wonder.
Shame on The Globe And Mail!
Here’s the reality. I have a client who lives part time in Japan who gets DSL for an amazingly low $5 a month for 14-16mbps. IF that isn’t fast enough for her, she has the option of 100Mbps or 160Mbps fiber is about $40 a month. I have a German customer who pays 29.90 euros a month for 32Mbit/s DSL Where is that in Canada? The fact is that compared to the rest of the world, Canadian consumers are absolutely getting hosed by ISP’s like Rogers and Bell. The only way this will get fixed is if the Canadian federal government follows through with their promise to open up the Canadian telecom industry to foreign investment. That’s because the incumbent telcos are too busy hosing Canadian consumers by providing less service for more money to do the right thing. So if you’re Canadian, e-mail your local MP to say that the Harvard study is proof that change needs to come sooner than later.
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