Friday 30 July 2010

Broadband Statistics From the CRTC

The CRTC has released their annual Communications Monitoring Report 2009. The full 213 page (7.10 MB) report covers all aspects of the broadcast and telecommunications industry in Canada and may be downloaded from the CRTC site.   Since most reader will be interested in the part pertaining to the Internet and broadband, I have posted a 10 page PDF extract at the ADnet website under the What’s New column.

The table below from the report is the high level summary. The statistic on average downloads and uploads near the bottom of the table are noteworthy and is far out of line with the total being touted by Bell in their Deferral Account proposal where they cite less than 2 GB per month. It also belies the argument of the proponents of 3G HSPA as the solution to broadband in rural areas as it is greater than the cap provided in the flat rate service shown before. Overage  charges will run up the total bill quickly.

It also has a rate of growth in the 30% range for 2008 to 2009 which is only likely to increase at a greater rate with the introduction of new services such as Netflix. Rogers appears to have admitted as much with their recent cap adjustment although they state there is no direct relationship.  

 

Internet and broadband availability at a glance

2008

2009

Growth

Revenues ($ billions)

6.2

6.6

6.3%

Internet access and transport

Residential

3.9

4.3

9.9%

Business

1.1

1.1

1.2%

Wholesale

0.2

0.3

21.5%

Other

1.0

1.0

-5.5%

Residential subscribers (millions)

9.8

10.1

2.6%

Residential high-speed access revenues per subscriber per month

$34.06

$36.06

5.9%

Internet access market share (revenue)

Top 5 major ISPs (including affiliates)

76%

76%

Cable operators

48%

50%

ILECs (excluding out-of-territory)

40%

38%

Broadband availability (excluding satellite)

National

95%

95%

Urban

100%

100%

Rural

82%

84%

Penetration:

All speeds

74%

75%

High-speed

69%

72%

Broadband (1.5 Mbps and higher)

52%

62%

Broadband (5 Mbps and higher)

41%

44%

Average Gigabytes downloaded per month per user

9.1

12.0

Average Gigabytes uploaded per month per user

3.2

3.4

Source: CRTC data collection