Nation of broadband

by Staff
Marketing Magazine
Oct 24, 2005

Canadians may feel they approach life a bit slower than Americans, but when it comes to the Internet, we have a need for speed. Almost half (49%) of Canada's households are connected to the Internet with high-speed broadband, whereas only 34% of Americans have high-speed Internet. That's according to a cross-border survey done this past May and June by Solutions Research Group, which found Canada also leads the U.S. in overall Internet usage. Sixty-three per cent of households here have an Internet connection (49% high-speed and 14% dial-up) versus 57% south of the border (34% broadband and 23% dial-up).

Broadband is an important technology for the delivery of on-demand video, says Kaan Yigit, Solutions Research Group's study director, so "while Canada is somewhat behind the U.S. in areas such as wireless and HDTV, on this very important score Canada is at least two years ahead of the curve." Part of the reason for that is differences in how Canadian cable and phone companies have approached digital and broadband versus U.S. providers, plus socio-economic factors and the fact that Canada's population is more urban, with the majority living in a handful of major metro centres.

The number of high-speed Internet homes in Canada has grown rapidly as a result (two years ago only 31% of households had broadband), and today the number of homes with broadband exceeds those with digital cable or satellite TV. Not surprisingly, Internet activities that require higher bandwidth are more popular in Canada, especially among those who are younger. A quarter of Internet users 12 to 29 have downloaded a movie or 30- or 60-minute TV show from the Internet versus 16% in the same age group in the U.S.

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