One of the enduring myths that is used by apologists for incumbent broadband operators as to the high cost of broadband in Canada and the US is our low population density.
Since Canada and the US have low population density compared to The Netherlands or South Korea, they argue that therefore the cost of delivering broadband will be significantly higher because of the much greater distances that need to be covered.
While this may be true for rural and remote broadband services, most Canadians and Americans (over 80%) live in urban areas. The cost of deploying broadband in urban areas is almost the same anywhere in the world. The bigger factors that affect the cost of broadband deployment in urban areas is whether the fiber is buried or put on poles. Most urban communities in North America are serviced by poles and therefore cost of deploying fiber should be a lot cheaper than, for example in The Netherlands where it is mostly buried.
Canada and the US have almost the same urban density as The Netherlands (82%) and South Korea (83%). As such,in urban areas there is no reason why the cost of broadband should not be the same as The Netherlands or South Korea.
Clearly other factors (hint: lack of competition) that are play in keeping broadband speeds and prices much higher in Canada and the US than many other advanced broadband countries.
This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd