The WiFi retail market is growing in Canada according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), following the general increase of hotspots’ number around the world.
In a previous article, we spoke about the global hotspot previsions, stating that North-America will represent 21% of global hotspots in 2020. Canada is strongly participating in this global hotspot growth, and numbers show Canada’s willingness to multiply wireless projects: in 2015, the wifi retail market generated more than $22.5 billion of revenues (according to the CRTC) and had a growth rate of 7.5%.
Canada is also following the trend of Social Wi-Fi and multiplies wireless deployment within its territory. Canada’s wireless networks cover 20% of its territory and reach 99% of Canadians, mostly in Ontario and Quebec. The number of public Wi-Fi hotspots significantly increased since 2014: from 14.000 public hotspots to over 21.000 public hotspots in 2016 throughout the country. This number contains both free and paid public hotspots.
Below, you can consult the infographic to better understand the repartition of free and paid hotspots.
Source: CRTC
About the quality of the wireless infrastructure, according to the CRTC, approximately 98% of Canadian households can access a download speed of at least 5 Mbps. This speed allows them to stream high-quality audio and video.
Nevertheless, only 1.5% of Canadians access wireless services through satellite facilities, the majority of them get access to Wi-Fi through landline or fixed wireless facilities. Moreover, the long-term evolution network, that delivers high speeds, is available to 97.4% of Canadians.
Tanaza is already present in Canada, working with its partners in Quebec City and Ontario.
In a world where all big cities make their smart transition, Canada is trying to recover its delay in public hotspot deployment, in comparison to cities like Chicago and Miami (US) that are already deploying Smart Wi-Fi within public spaces.
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