Digital Cable Rollout Slow in Rural Canada

OTTAWA - Sep 3/02 - SNS -- Rural communities do not have the same access to broadband internet connections as their urban counterparts, according to a summary of year old data collected by Statistics Canada.

The report concentrated on digital cable and found that as of August 31 or last year, more than 70% of cable homes (homes with access to cable) in small communities did not have access to high-speed Internet by cable. The report did not look at the percentage of rural homes which have access to high speed DSL connections through their telephone.

The report said as of August 31, 2001, just over 9.4 million Canadian homes, or about 85% of cable homes, had access to broadband service, up from about 70% a year ago. Deployment occurred fastest in small communities, where the number of homes with access to high-speed service more than doubled to almost 363,400. This represented only about 27% of homes with access to cable, up from 11% in 2000. In medium-sized communities, 78% had access, compared with 47% in 2000.

Network upgrades necessary to offer this service were almost completed in the largest communities, where 96% of cable homes had access to this broadband technology, up from 86%.

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