Canadian broadband ranking
p2pnet.net news view:- The OECD this week released its annual broadband statistics for the 30 OECD countries. The release notes that Canada ranks at the top of the G7 countries in terms of broadband penetration. A closer examination of the data, however, reveals that that good news masks far more disturbing trends. As recently as 2003, Canada ranked second in the OECD in broadband penetration. In 2004, it slipped to fifth and last year it dropped to eighth. This year, Canada dropped another spot to ninth and it is safe bet that it will drop out of the top 10 by next year.
Not only is Canada dropping in comparison to other OECD countries, but Canada’s growth rate ranks second worst among all OECD countries. The OECD chart lists the countries alphabetically, but it is much more revealing to examine both overall rank and growth rates.
Broadband Subscribers per 100 Inhabitants
1. Denmark – 31.92. Netherlands – 31.8
3. Iceland – 29.7
4. South Korea – 29.1
5. Switzerland – 28.5
6. Norway – 27.5
7. Finland – 27.2
8. Sweden – 26.0
9. Canada – 23.8
10. Belgium – 22.5
11. UK – 21.6
12. Luxembourg – 20.4
13. France – 20.3
14. Japan – 20.2
15. United States – 19.6
16. Australia – 19.2
17. Austria – 17.3
18. Germany – 17.1
19. Spain – 15.3
20. Italy – 14.8
21. New Zealand – 14.0
22. Portugal – 13.8
23. Ireland – 12.5
24. Hungary – 11.9
25. Czech Republic – 10.6
26. Poland – 6.9
27. Slovak Republic – 5.7
28. Greece – 4.6
29. Turkey – 3.8
30. Mexico – 3.5
Now consider the relative growth rates from 2005 to 2006:
1. Greece – 228%
2. Poland – 187%
3. Slovak Republic – 128%
4. Hungary – 89%
5. Ireland – 87%
6. Turkey – 81%
7. New Zealand – 73%
8. Czech Republic – 66%
9. Mexico – 59%
10. Australia – 39%
11. Luxembourg – 37%
12. France – 34%
13. Spain – 33%
14. Germany – 32%
15. UK – 32%
16. Sweden – 29%
17. Denmark – 28%
18. Norway – 26%
19. Netherlands – 26%
20. Italy – 25%
21. Belgium – 22%
22. Finland – 21%
23. Austria – 21%
24. United States – 20%
25. Portugal – 20%
26. Switzerland – 18%
27. Japan – 15%
28. South Korea – 15%
29. Canada – 13%
30. Iceland – 13%
Needless to say, this is a pretty abysmal showing. Far from being an Internet leader, Canada is rapidly becoming a second tier country in terms of broadband penetration with limited broadband competition, hundreds of thousands of people with no hope of any broadband access, rising prices, and more examples of the violation of net neutrality principles than any other country in the world. Industry Minister Maxime Bernier is fond of pointing to an OECD study on the cost of regulation, yet it is this OECD report that should really command his attention.
Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]
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