KAP CELL SURVEY
KAP’s survey reveals
numerous safety concerns,
the most serious being
respondents’ lack
of faith in accessing
emergency services.
Partners in agriculture
for more than 80 years
Ducks Unlimited Canada leads the development of
winter wheat, offers forage and grazing programs,
pays incentives to landowners who protect and
restore wildlife habitat, and is a proud supporter
of Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives.
In 2018, we paid more than $2.25 million to
landowners for conservation agreements
and forage establishment. We’ve also
invested millions of dollars
in the development
of winter wheat
varieties.
course materials and study resources,
and participating in distance learning
like webinars.
“For business opportunities, safety,
and public learning, we require better
cell service,” said Gregory.
It is certainly not as if it cannot be
done. During a 200-kilometre wilderness
trip along the Finnish-Russian border,
Gregory never had less than four bars
of service.
Many respondents also note person-al
impacts, such as disruptions in stream-ing
videos, Netflix, and video games.
An isolation factor was reported as
well by respondents unable to call family
and friends, or interact on social media
due to their inability to connect online.
Cost
Producer Adam Gurr, who farms and
operates Agritruth Research near
Brandon, says his main complaints
are the cost of service, longer down-load
times, and extra hours required to
research online.
He has lived at his current address
for nine years, but prior to that, resided
in Brandon where he could access rela-tively
cheap and fast internet.
“Internet service is fairly depend-able
via Xplornet, but it is expensive for
the speeds and data limits relative to
what communities served by fibre-optic
have available,” Gurr said.
Canada’s mobile wireless service
rates are some of the highest among G7
countries and Australia, according to the
recent 2019 Price Comparison Study of
Telecommunications Services in Canada
and Select Foreign Jurisdictions.
“We’re paying the same as everyone
else for our cellular and internet service
– in some cases more – for less access
and less reliability,” Verwey said.
Accountability
Despite various levels of government
consultations, declarations to close the
digital divide, and promises of invest-ment
over the years, rural Manitobans’
frustration over unreliable connectivity
and slower speed remains.
As one survey respondent said,
“This is the biggest issue holding rural
Manitobans back.”
Verwey says that providers gear
their efforts to the bulk of their customer
base, which is located in urban centres.
“We’re at a disadvantage in being in
rural Manitoba, where you have a lower
population base,” she said. “There’s not
a financial incentive for providers to
access 100 people versus 10,000 people.”
The federal Liberals previously
made the commitment to ensure all
Canadians receive a certain level of ser-vice,
“So now we’ve got to hold their feet
to the fire,” Verwey said. “There has to be
more pressure from the federal govern-ment
and from our constituents to make
the major carriers accountable for the
services they’re providing.”
A full report of KAP’s survey will be
shared with both the federal and provin-cial
governments, as well as major ser-vice
providers, later this year.
Manitoba responds
Saying it recognizes the importance of
broadband connectivity, the province
announced in mid-May that it would
seek to use a request for proposals for
carriers and providers to tap into its
almost unused, or “dark,” vast fibre-optic
network previously installed for
Manitoba Hydro.
The Manitoba government describes
its goal as improving access to broad-band,
supporting further implementa-tion
of “next generation” technologies, as
well as improving cellular service along
transportation corridors and in commu-nities
lacking cell service.
“This network will allow providers
to offer or improve service to the signifi-cant
number of rural and remote com-munities
in Manitoba that are largely
underserved by high-speed, competi-tive,
and reliable telecommunications,”
Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton
said in a statement. FV
Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Summer 2020 § 41
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