FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Feb. 11, 2014
OTTAWA – PIAC welcomed the announcement in Budget 2014 that $305 Million will be provided to improve access to broadband internet service for rural and remote Canadians.
“Canadians continue to need more choice, better service and lower prices for broadband internet service,” noted Geoff White, Counsel to PIAC. “Many consumers in rural or remote areas are not able to harness the full potential of the internet” said White.
“In 2011, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) denied a request from PIAC to create a structured rural broadband subsidy for rural broadband access,” noted John Lawford, PIAC’s Executive Director and General Counsel. Moreover, in 2010, PIAC produced a report concluding that access to broadband has important economic, social and cultural ramifications for Canadians and without it, Canadian consumers risk falling behind in today’s increasingly online interconnected world. The report called for establishing broadband as basic service for Canadians in the same way that telephone service was established as a need for every citizen in the last century.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is an Ottawa-based consumer organization specializing in telecommunications services.
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For more information:
Geoff White, Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
ONE Nicholas Street, Suite 1204
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
(613) 562-4002×24
(613) 562-0007 (Fax)
gwhite@piac.ca
John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
ONE Nicholas Street, Suite 1204
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
(613) 562-4002×25
(613) 562-0007 (Fax)
jlawford@piac.ca