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CIRA Fact Book: Canada and Global Internet access, speed, price and usage

Global Internet penetration

Global Internet penetration

Source: Wikipedia

However, while Canada is among the most connected countries in the world, a set of ‘digital divides’ exist within its borders:

  • 95 per cent of Canadians in the highest income quartile are connected to the Internet, yet only 62 per cent in the lowest income quartile have Internet access.
  • Internet access varies by province. According to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Internet Use Survey in 2012, British Columbia and Alberta lead the nation in household Internet access with 86 per cent, followed by Ontario at 84 per cent. Household access is lowest in Quebec (78 per cent) and the east coast (Prince Edward Island, 78 per cent; New Brunswick, 77 per cent).
  • Whereas broadband is available to 100 per cent of Canadians that live in urban areas, only 85 per cent of Canadians in rural areas have access. The urban/rural/remote divide is even more pronounced in the Canadian North. A 2010 report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) showed that 83.5 per cent of households in the Northwest Territories (NWT) had Internet access, 100 per cent of communities in the Yukon had access, yet only 27 per cent of communities in Nunavut had access. In the NWT, community level Internet access ranged from 17 per cent in the tiny hamlet of Wrigley, to 89.9 per cent in Yellowknife.”

Stephen

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Posted on: March 21, 2014, 6:19 am Category: Uncategorized

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