Mapping the Long-Term Options for Canada’s North: Telecommunications and Broadband Connectivity

Mapping the Long-Term Options for Canada’s North: Telecommunications and Broadband Connectivity provides an overview of connectivity in Canada’s North. The benchmarking exercise finds that an average North Canadian consumer pays $139 per month for a basic basket of services, including a basic cell phone plan (~200 local anytime calling minutes), a home phone with long distance (~400 North American minutes), and high-speed Internet access (= 1,500/384 kilobits per second). By comparison the average Nunavut consumer pays $171 per month for a similar basket of services.

The report also explores two regional case studies that foreground the disparate drivers and challenges shaping critical connectivity infrastructure in Canada’s inhabited Arctic and Northern boreal forest regions and a third case study examines the unique connectivity requirements of Canada’s growing presence and responsibilities in the circumpolar North. It concludes with a series of recommendations to enhance Canada’s Northern connectivity landscape.