Thunder Bay-area man's home internet battle shows need for broadband expansion, advocates say

A Thunder Bay-area man's recent battle over his home internet contract is an example of a common story heard by advocates for broadband access in Canada, according to a campaigner for OpenMedia.

• Bell offers Thunder Bay-area man home internet plan, cuts it, promises its restoration

"I think a lot of Canadians take for granted [the belief] that everyone has access to the web," said Katy Anderson, who specializes in advocating on access-to-internet issues for the lobby group.

"I live in Calgary and everyone that I talk to just assumes that we have the internet and we have high-speed internet, but a lot of Canadians don't."

Ensuring that all households in Canada eventually have access to broadband internet was the goal of a declaration by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 2016. The national regulator effectively ordered providers to start boosting internet service and speeds in rural and isolated areas by declaring broadband internet an essential service, much like local landline telephone.

• CRTC declares broadband internet access a basic service

The CRTC has estimated that roughly 18 per cent of Canadian households don't have access to speeds that the regulator deemed to be of a modern standard (download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second, upload speeds of at least 10 megabits per second).

The goal is to reduce the number of households without that access to 10 per cent by 2021 and eliminate it within 10 to 15 years.

"It's extremely important and we saw it as a huge win for Canadians," Anderson said, but added that the ultimatum is a first step that requires continued and stable funding as part of a national strategy.

The level of service available to homes in various communities outside Thunder Bay's city limits can vary widely, including what type of internet is available (broadband through fibre-optic wire or copper, wireless broadband, satellite, etc...), through which carrier and what the rates are. Different options may or may not be available within the same geographic area.

Tbaytel, a regional provider in northwestern Ontario, which is wholly owned by the City of Thunder Bay, is one of the — but not only — major providers of landline phone service to the rural municipalities surrounding the city.

Company spokesperson Katie Crowe said they've upgraded existing copper wiring to also carry broadband service; as well, she said, broadband service through fibre-optic wiring is expected to be rolled out to some areas in Oliver-Paipoonge, Shuniah and Neebing in 2018.

The simplicity and cost of those upgrades can depend on a large number of factors, she said; even down to what types of hydro poles are installed in a given area.

"Each township is very unique in what it brings to the table, what we can do with that and where we need to go to get to the finished product," she said. "We really need to deal with each area individually."

Crowe said that the company is committed to the CRTC's ruling, but agreed with Anderson that government help is key to making it work.

"That infrastructure has to be built by the service providers across the country and those service providers are businesses," she said. "So where there is no business case, it's extremely difficult for a provider to justify spending the money that's required."