New internet performance data shows that Canada’s digital divide actually grew during the first year of the pandemic
This piece originally appeared in National Newswatch on April 23, 2021.
Just as the pandemic exposed troubling gaps among factory workers, healthcare providers, and vulnerable communities it also laid bare a technology gap between city and country. When lockdowns took hold and Canadians (who could) started working from home, we learned as never before that access to the internet is an essential service. But it is a service where access is very unequal. Residents of rural areas already suffered with inferior internet but in the past year, as our reliance has only grown, the disparity worsened significantly.
The data comes from a report just released by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the not-for-profit I lead, which oversees the .CA domain. It found that in March of 2020, the median download speed in rural areas was 5.42 megabits per second (Mbps), far behind the median of 26.16 Mbps in urban settings.
As the months of physical distancing dragged on we learned that remote work was possible, if not always desirable, and that education could also continue, even if we all recognize the importance of having children in classrooms.
In the face of these changing realities and demands, city dwellers were able to see a marked improvement in their internet. By March of 2021, the CIRA study found that the median download speed in urban areas had grown to 51.09 Mbps, but rural access lagged behind even farther at a median of 9.74 Mbps.
Byron Holland (MBA, ICD.D) est président et chef de la direction de CIRA, l’organisme national à but non lucratif mieux connu pour sa gestion du domaine .CA et pour l’élaboration de nouveaux services de cybersécurité, de registre et de DNS.
Byron est un expert de la gouvernance de l’Internet et un entrepreneur aguerri. Sous l’égide de Byron, CIRA est devenue un des principaux ccTLD au monde en gérant plus de 3 millions de domaines. Au cours de la dernière décennie, il a représenté CIRA à l’échelle internationale et occupé de nombreux postes de dirigeant au sein de l’ICANN. Il siège présentement sur le conseil d’administration de TORIX en plus d’être membre du comité des mises en candidature de l’ARIN. Il habite à Ottawa en compagnie de son épouse, de leurs deux fils et de Marley, leur berger australien.
Les opinions partagées sur ce blogue sont celles de Byron sur des enjeux qui touchent l’Internet et ne représentent pas nécessairement celles de l’entreprise.
