Synopsis
Archived report: this report was archived in December 2010 and has not been updated.
In 2010 Canada’s national telecom infrastructure was still predominantly based on a copper-wire circuit switched network. Since the mid-1990s, Canada’s telecom infrastructure had been undergoing significant modernisation, driven largely by the demand for cable television and broadband services. In particular, the growing demand for converged voice, data and TV services was driving the deployment of Next Generation Networks in the form of IP-based networks. Although many of these developments had been led by the cable companies, the decline in traditional fixed-line revenues was compelling the incumbent telcos to modernise their network infrastructure, by deploying optical fibre deeper into the network, albeit at slower deployment rates than other developed nations. In addition to the cable and telco networks, there were a number of NGNs emerging in the public and not-for-profit arenas.
This report provides an overview of Canada’s telecommunications infrastructure.
