Industry Canada
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Industry Canada Feature
Industry Canada Business Plan 2009-2010
Industry Canada's strategic objectives, workforce renewal and corporate priorities for 2009–2010.
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Highlights
Did you know?
6% of Canadian households currently lack broadband (1.5Mbps) access. In rural areas, that figure is closer to 22%. (CRTC Communications Monitoring Report 2009)
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Call for Applications for Program Funding
Update
February 1, 2010 - Due to the high response to the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program, the application assessment phase has taken slightly longer than anticipated. We now expect to begin announcing successful projects in the Spring of 2010.
Broadband Canada received 570 applications. This resulted in an oversubscription to the program's available funding.
Many of the projects in these applications had partial or full overlaps with each other in terms of area to be served with broadband connectivity. The Broadband Canada office is currently in the process of determining which of the applications maximize available funding to bring broadband connectivity to as many unserved and underserved households as possible.
All efforts are being made to finalize the assessment process as soon as possible.
As part of Canada's Economic Action Plan, $225 million was provided to Industry Canada over three years to develop and implement a strategy to extend broadband coverage to as many unserved and underserved households as possible, beginning in 2009-2010.
Broadband internet access is viewed as essential infrastructure for participating in today's economy, as it enables citizens, businesses and institutions to access information, services and opportunities that could otherwise be out of reach.
The Broadband Canada program’s goal is to encourage the expansion and availability of broadband connectivity to as many currently unserved and underserved households in Canada as possible. The program aims to provide essential infrastructure to Canadians in rural and remote areas allowing them to participate in the Internet economy by getting access to information, services and opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
News
Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians Launches its Call-for-Applications Process
September 1, 2009
PM announces major improvement to broadband internet access in rural canada
July 30, 2009
