Current Landscape: Broadband Availability in Alberta

Table 1 ⁶. Broadband Availability in Alberta by Download Speed, 2019 per CRTC Communications Monitoring Report 2020
Prepared by Cybera using data from 2015 CRTC Communications Monitoring Report. These figures exclude satellite technologies.

Source: Prepared by Cybera using data from 2020 CRTC Communications Monitoring Report. These figures exclude satellite technologies.

However, accurately assessing the current state of broadband services in Alberta is difficult, not least because it is a constantly moving target. Internet Service Providers are often reluctant to give out accurate figures of actual service delivery throughout their service area. Using their advertised services gives an idea of service availability, but in rural areas, this ideal scenario rarely plays out in reality.

Determining accurate broadband speeds for Alberta: the Sturgeon County case study

The Connecting Canadians initiative also created a national broadband coverage map¹⁵ (see Figures 3 & 4), with input from ISPs, to identify the areas of Canada that have underserved (< 5 Mbps download speed) or unserved broadband needs. The CRTC released a similar map (see Figures 5 and 6) in April 2016. It depicts the availability of broadband internet access service at or above the CRTC’s target speeds of 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload within hexagonal service areas of 25 square kilometres.

 Figure 3. Connecting Canadians Broadband Internet Coverage Map of Alberta. Source: Industry Canada¹⁶

Figure 4. Connecting Canadians Broadband Internet Service Coverage Map of Canada. Source: Industry Canada¹⁷ 
Blue areas indicate regions where internet download speeds of ≥5 Mbps are available and red areas indicate where speeds of <5 Mbps are available. Further raw data is available on the Industry Canada website.

Figure 5. CRTC Broadband Internet Service Coverage in Alberta. Source: CRTC¹⁸

Figure 6. CRTC Broadband Internet Service Coverage in Canada. Source: CRTC ¹⁹ 
Coloured areas indicate availability of internet download/upload speeds of ≥5/1 Mbps. Green represents fixed wireless access and yellow represents LTE access. Note that there is some overlap in this coverage. An interactive map with various layers is available on the CRTC website.

Within the CRTC map, a hexagon is classified as served if at least one household in the 25 square kilometre area has access to internet service at speeds of at least 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. In the course of our conversations with stakeholders, this mapping methodology received criticism from some fixed wireless ISPs, as it can lead to an overrepresentation of broadband coverage in Alberta. Similar critiques were put on public record at the CRTC’s April 2016 Review of basic telecommunications services hearing.²⁰ The CRTC also notes that: “Internet speeds at or above the CRTC’s targets may not be achievable throughout the entire LTE coverage area.”²¹

Cybera has further heard from fixed wireless ISPs (whose services cover the largest areas of the maps) that download/upload speeds of ≥ 5/1 Mbps may not be available to all subscribers at all times. Fixed wireless access can be complicated by weather, the distance of the subscriber to a tower, and congestion on the wireless access portion of the network, particularly during peak internet usage periods. Please refer to the Fixed Wireless Access/Wireless Internet Service Providers section of this chapter for more information on wireless access networks in Alberta.

Using the estimate that 98% of the province’s population is covered, this leaves 2% — 80,000 Albertans — without access to internet at speeds of at least 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. All access rates discussed above do not take into consideration the affordability of broadband service.