The world loves the Internet and Canada is no exception. Falling service costs and faster transmission speeds are prompting citizens around the world to have their homes and businesses wired for Internet access. With record numbers flocking online, the Internet is fast becoming the preferred and most powerful way to deliver content and facilitate commercial transactions in both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.
The widespread acceptance of digital media is helping to usher in revolutionary economic changes that are redefining established business models. Merger activity among Internet, telecommunications and broadcast companies, such as the recent Time-Warner-AOL merger, illustrates just how powerful the Internet-powered content model has become. By starting early and by relying on Canadian expertise, Canada aims to take advantage of this trend to position itself as a world leader in the development of online content and e-commerce.
According to Arthur Andersen, Canadians are already at the forefront of key industrial and technological sectors. “Our workers are skilled and mobile. As a G-7 nation with a gross domestic
product of approximately $900 billion, Canada’s economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Western world.”
To keep Canada in a leading position in the development and use of advanced information and communication technologies, the Canadian federal government initiated Connecting Canadians, a program striving to make Canada the most connected country in the world.
Launched in 1998 by John Manley and the Ministry of Industry, the program has made significant progress in connecting Canadians to each other and the world. Continued by the newly-appointed Minister of Industry, Brian Tobin, the mission of Connecting Canadians is to help Canadians take advantage of all the Internet has to offer. The number of diverse programs and
services has been designed for clients such as: public schools and libraries, First Nations schools, the voluntary sector, rural and remote communities, small businesses, and recent graduates.
“The Internet is a communication tool that’s here to stay. Like fax machines and cell phones, the Internet has quickly become a part of everyday life,” comments Manley. “Canada is becoming a centre of excellence for e-commerce, both domestically and internationally. Canadians have already demonstrated their enthusiasm for new technology and its use in financial transactions.”
There are a number of reasons why Canada is quickly becoming one of the most connected countries in the world: Canada’s online activities are supported by a high-quality and accessible infrastructure; residential telephone rates are the lowest in the world and business rates the second lowest; Canada’s Internet access costs are the lowest among the 29 Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members; and the use of automated banking machine transactions is the highest in the world, an activity that is viewed as a indicator of electronic commerce acceptance.
Canada’s SchoolNet program is now working with its partners to increase levels of connectivity in classrooms. SchoolNet is dedicated to helping Canadians stay ahead in the educational use of information technology. To help Canadian students access the computer
technology needed to start building valuable IT skills, SchoolNet’s Computers for Schools program collects donations of surplus computers from governments and the private sector. The computers are then refurbished and distributed to schools and libraries.
Since the program was founded in 1993 by Industry Canada and the Telephone Pioneers, the largest industry-related volunteer organization in the world, Computers for Schools has provided more than 200,000 computers to the nation’s schools and libraries. “To help Canadian students access the computer technology needed to start building valuable IT skills, the Computers for Schools program collects donations of surplus computers from governments and the private sector,” – said Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry.
Canadians love the Internet. Canada leads the world in Internet use, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Canadian Consumer Technology Study 2000. Canada is a world leader when it comes to per household Internet access.
The study found that nearly half of the Canadian population is now online (48.2 per cent), compared to 43 per cent in the U.S., 38 per cent in Australia, and 26 per cent in Europe.
Canadians are also leaders in the average of Internet use per week with 5.1 hours/week, up from 3.9 hours/week last year. The average number of hours of Internet use per week in Europe was 3.2 hours/week, while Australia was 3.6 hours/week. The U.S. saw the average hours per week on the Internet decrease from 5.3 hours/week in 1999 to 4.2 hours/week in 2000.
“This hour-long decline in Internet use per week in the U.S. may be a sign of the medium’s maturity and that people are becoming more economical and efficient in their use of the Internet,” suggests PricewaterhouseCoopers. Overall household Internet access in Canada increased from 43 per cent in 1999 to 48 per cent in 2000. A substantial part of this growth represents change in Quebec, which saw household Internet use grow from 29 per cent last year to 42 per cent in 2000. The rise of Internet subscribers in the rest of Canada has only increased from 48 per cent in 1999 to 50 per cent this year. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, this is
similar to the pattern evident in the U.S. where “the market is beginning to show signs of saturation with 43 per cent of its population online.”
“Of Canadian household Internet users, 22 per cent are using high-speed connections, including cable modems (18 per cent) and digital subscriber lines (4 per cent). This is an increase over last year, when only 18 per cent of Internet users were subscribing to
high-speed service providers.”
“Clearly, high-speed connections are on the rise. However, today’s high-speed market is still largely an early adopter market. To sign up the general population, service providers will have to develop more compelling value propositions,” said Peter Lyman, leader of the Information Communications and Entertainment/Media (ICE) practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada. “Our data highlights the fact that cost is the primary deterrent holding back the migration of consumers to high-speed.”
Twenty-four per cent of polled Canadians who were not connected said they expect to hook up to the Internet within one year. Of this segment, 29.2 per cent said they were considering
high-speed connections. The use of high-speed Internet access is higher in Canada than in many other countries. Only in Germany, where an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is widely
available, is there more high-speed access.
The top reasons for Canadians to use the Internet are research and information (92.2 per cent) and e-mail (93.2 per cent). Interest in online banking has risen to 45 per cent from 36 per cent last year, and shopping is also making inroads as a reason to use the Internet, increasing from 22 per cent to 28 per cent.
