Canada - Govt has approved project to extend rural broadband to 169,000 households

[financial post] Industry Mnister Tony Clement yesterday announced approval of 52 projects to extend broadband Internet coverage to 169,000 rural households.

Many Canadians living in less dense centres of the country face a terrible digital divide with broadband Internet access spotty to non-existent.

Mr. Clement announced spending $76.6-million on high-speed Internet connections targeting roughly 50 communities. The announcement is part of $225-million the federal government earmarked in its 2009 budget to extend broadband coverage to rural Canadians in an effort to spur economic productivity and innovation.

For businesses, lack of access to the Internet can cripple growth. Companies that cannot plug into electronic billing or invoice services, information access and data storage centres are hampered.

That can mean companies that once thrived in small communities are pulling up the stakes for larger centres.

The inconsistent broadband coverage led the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission to call for a public hearing in the fall to investigate whether a new regulatory framework should be put in place to ensure universal access to affordable broadband service.

No surprise that the major telecom and cable companies have responded by arguing that granting such access is impossible without subsidies, and the $225-million in the government's budget is simply too little to make the kind of dent necessary.

In its stimulous packaged signed into law in February, President Barack Obama's administration, for example, pledged US$7.2-billion as a first step toward establishing a nationwide broadband strategy, although there is debate in the United States over how much should go into extending rural broadband service and how much to improving quality and choice in existing urban service.

In 2009, the British government announced a broadband stimulus package aimed to set minimum broadband speeds and push for universal broadband coverage by 2012

Ottawa announces funding for broadband in rural areas