Le Lézard
Classified in: Science and technology, Covid-19 virus
Subject: ANALYSTS' COMMENTS

Rural internet download speeds slowly closing the gap to urban speeds, but they still fall well below the CRTC's universal service objective


OTTAWA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Canadians rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, access to high-speed internet continues to be a challenge for many ? especially in rural and northern communities. CIRA has been documenting this inequity by releasing an annual Internet Performance Test (IPT) data release that reviews the state of broadband across the country. CIRA's IPT data provides residents, planners, and decision-makers with the evidence they need to address the digital divide that persists in Canada.

CIRA's annual reports have consistently highlighted the stark contrast between urban and rural internet connectivity. While 2021 showed some improvement for residents in rural communities, with the median download speed increasing to 14.1 Mbps, the urban median download speed also increased significantly to 63.9 Mbps, again reinforcing the persistent digital divide.

This year's data release focuses on test data collected over 2021, and the first four months of 2022, which shows that urban internet speeds continue to surpass rural speeds. Despite this, the gap between urban and rural speeds is slowly closing ? a trend that will hopefully continue as governments increase funding for broadband infrastructure projects across the country. Additionally, for the first time, this year's release includes previously unpublished data from 2019 on provincial internet speeds, deepening regional insight on the evolution of internet access across Canada and where the needs are greatest. Due to lower test numbers in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon, CIRA is not publishing territorial data at this time.

While the median download speed for rural areas has increased slightly from previous years to 20.9 Mbps in Q1 2022, in urban areas it has increased at a far greater rate, almost doubling since the start of the pandemic, to 74.61 Mbps. While this is a step in the right direction for rural residents, there is still a lot of catch-up to be done. Looking at individual provinces, this latest data shows that among people who ran a test, Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia top the charts for fastest internet download speeds; whereas Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island appear to have the slowest speeds.

Key Findings

The findings below are reported based on IPT data results generated between January 1, 2020 and April 30, 2022 from a total of 183,926 urban tests and 185,193 rural tests. Provincial data covers the same timeframe, while the additional graphs below display data from 2019.

This data was gathered using CIRA's Internet Performance Test. Since the launch of the program, Canadians have completed over 1,200,000 tests. CIRA is currently helping dozens of local governments and organizations who collectively represent over 1000 communities across Canada heat map connectivity in their region.

Canadians can help promote faster internet for all by taking CIRA's Internet Performance Test at performance.cira.ca.

Figures and Graphs1

Figure 1: The Urban-Rural Digital Divide ?

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/893656fc-db1f-44b6-bdcb-c42921e21fec 

Figure 2: Median Rural Download and Upload Speeds ?

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2ed1abe5-1fab-4125-b8a5-3ab407f42a3a 

Figure 3: Urban Internet Speeds ?

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6fe53e1d-7d05-420f-9ee4-3c8380fa5d38 

Figure 4: Provincial Median Download and Upload Speeds ?

https://infogram.com/provincial-median-download-and-upload-speeds-1ho16vow18jp84n

Figure 5: Canada National Average Internet Speeds ?

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be9c09a9-e23f-4829-9bcd-670629197d8c 

Figure 6: Rural Median Download and Upload Speeds by Province ?

https://infogram.com/provincial-median-rural-download-and-upload-speeds-1h8n6m3oe1dnz4x

Figure 7: Urban Median Download and Upload Speeds by Province ?

https://infogram.com/provincial-median-urban-download-and-upload-speeds-1h7j4dv918mn94n

Additional Background

Executive Quote

"The last two and a half years have really cemented the critical role the internet plays in all our lives. While the improvement in rural speeds is a step in the right direction, this report unfortunately still paints a grim picture of the state of connectivity in many parts of Canada. Continued investments in broadband infrastructure by governments, internet service providers and communities themselves will be critical make sure rural communities don't fall farther behind."

- Tanya O'Callaghan, vice-president, community investment, policy and advocacy

About CIRA's Internet Performance Test

CIRA's Internet Performance Test is one of the most advanced tests of internet speed and quality available and has the public interest at its core. The test nodes are located in internet exchange points in Tier 1 Canadian cities, rather than within an ISP's own network architecture. This allows CIRA to measure the actual performance of an internet connection to an "off-net" server in real network conditions, closely representing the true internet experience of Canadian users. To assess internet performance, CIRA uses the Network Diagnostic Test (NDT) developed by M-Lab. The platform allows Canadians to test the quality of their internet connections ? including metrics for speed, latency, jitter and packet loss. Canadians have performed over 1,200,000 tests on the platform since May 2015.

About CIRA

CIRA is a member-based, not-for-profit organization best known for managing the .CA top-level internet domain name on behalf of all Canadians. While CIRA's core mandate is the safe, stable and secure operation of the .CA domain and its underlying technologies, the organization also connects, protects, and engages the internet community in Canada and beyond by providing high-quality registry, DNS, and cybersecurity services.

Media Contacts
Shehnila Sayeed
Communications Specialist, CIRA
613.805.3146
[email protected]


1 Note: Multiple tests taken from the same IP address are combined to produce a daily average upload and download speed. This reduces the likelihood that a single IP address will significantly distort the data.

 



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