The Need for Broadband Services Why do Ottawa residents and businesses need broadband services? The answer lies in the applications that require this type of connection speed. Health care, education, businesses and residents will all benefit from broadband applications. Broadband communications is an economic enabler in the areas of e-business, e-health and e-education. Developing new ways of doing business with broadband will allow companies, institutions and governments to become more efficient by lowering costs and improving productivity. Broadband and Health Care Broadband can allow a patient who has recently been released from a hospital or received treatment from a doctor, access to medical educational resources or have their condition monitored remotely using web-enabled medical equipment. This in turn will eliminate travel and time delays and make access to medical practitioners and information more accessible. The extension of broadband service is critical for the healthcare system to work effectively, and for e-health to be capable of making its most important contributions. All health care sites such as hospitals, clinics, community health and long-term care facilities, public and private laboratories and doctors' offices must be reliably linked with broadband networks. These networks must be capable of allowing human interactions required for treatment and secure access to patient information. Although technology is only part of the problem, it can be argued that extending broadband networks could address the following key issues that are plaguing e-health services in Canada today:
March Networks Telehealth Pilot The March Networks/We Care Home Telehealth Pilot Project of April 2002 in Atlantic Canada is an example of how broadband can enable greater access to healthcare services. The project involved a web-enabled home telehealth service that enables homecare nurses to link up with their patients over the Internet in their place of residence without the need to spend valuable time driving to and from patients' homes. Patients with chronic medical conditions who require on-going vital sign monitoring can have the telehealth technology in their home connected to a broadband network. In-home nursing visits are supplemented with remote monitoring through interactive video, audio and data transmission over the broadband network. The study showed that 86% of the 1,062 conventional homecare visits conducted during the study could be done using home telehealth, with savings of nearly 75 days of nursing time and direct travel cost savings of almost $6,700. Should this broadband technology be widely deployed it can address the multiple challenges now facing the delivery of healthcare in Canada and in the Ottawa region - escalating healthcare costs, an increasing population of elderly persons and fewer nursing resources. e-Learning E-education is defined as the process in which education and training is delivered over a communications network, typically the Internet. This can include both public and private institutions. According to Campus Computing International, as of spring 2000, 57 percent of Canada's colleges and universities together offered almost 3000 on-line courses. In addition, there is a large and rapidly growing commercial market for training services offered by the private sector7. Broadband will make a wide range of both formal and informal learning opportunities more accessible for learners, regardless of subject or location. Students and Libraries Broadband services can provide the capability for on-line/real-time homework assignments involving audio and video from sources outside the home, like libraries or other sources available over the Internet. This type of broadband capability can expand educational resources while making tasks easier and faster; avoiding the need to travel to the source of the information. In October 2002, the Ottawa Public Library announced Lirico - a new on-line service enabling Ottawa residents to have access to Ottawa's collection of more than 2.4 million items from any branch or via their personal computer at home. Residents in any part of the City can order items online and have them delivered to the most convenient library branch. The City's librarian has identified that with the recent extension of broadband services to five libraries in rural Ottawa, the weight of books that are now shipped to these rural libraries has gone from 400 lbs. to 750 lbs. per day. This speaks to how broadband is improving the accessibility of the City's library resources to the rural community. E-Democracy/E-Services at City Hall Live, two-way video will allow users to see and discuss issues with City Councillors without leaving their neighbourhood. One example of this application was the web-cast of the City's 20/20 strategy in 2002, which engaged hundreds of participants over the Internet. New services and information like Ottawa's new Broadband Plan will be available on-line avoiding travel and keeping community members up-to-date. The vision is to have a toolbox of offerings available. Services such as video conferencing, video on demand and caching of information would be available so residents and businesses can access information at their leisure. These services would be accessible for both internal staff and for applications that meet a public need. MUSH Sector Opportunity The need for broadband access by Ottawa's MUSH (Municipality, Universities, Schools, Hospitals) sector is now critical. Connectivity between the various MUSH sector networks is key to delivering broadband services ubiquitously within the City of Ottawa. Inter-connecting the local MUSH sector with the rest of the R&D community throughout Ontario and the rest of Canada will have positive economic spin-offs for Ottawa. These spin-offs will include the attraction of more knowledge based workers to the City, economic diversification of the Ottawa economy, and the expansion of the City's innovation pipeline which will lead to more ideas being developed within Ottawa and brought to market.
e-Business Canadian business received $7.2 billion in customer orders over the Internet in 2000, up 73 percent from 1999. This represents a significant transformation of how business is now being conducted in the country. Improved supply chain management, along with the development of e-markets, promises sharply reduced procurement costs for corporate customers and reduced distribution costs for suppliers8. (See Figure 1) E-business is becoming a significant part of the Canadian economy. More than 60 per cent of Canada's productivity growth since 1995 has come from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector9. Growth was highest in those sectors which were intensive ICT users such as wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance and real estate. Leading the Way - The Banking Industry The banking industry offers an excellent example of the changes that technology can bring. On-line services over banking machines have altered the way banking transactions are done today. Through telecommunication technology, customers can now benefit from a more accessible and efficient banking system. Broadband Technology Development as a Growth Industry in Ottawa Within Ottawa's telecommunications equipment industry cluster, there are several companies actively engaged in the development of advanced high speed communications networks and innovative broadband applications and services. Ottawa's public research institutions and universities are also pursuing research in related areas, including photonics. With this base of local expertise, Ottawa is well positioned to be a leader in the development as well as the deployment and use of broadband networks. For example, in December 2002, the federal government announced that through the Technology Partnerships Canada Initiative, it will invest $60M in R&D funding to Ottawa-based Mitel Networks and March Networks to cover a quarter of a $240M research project into broadband communications technology. Broadband and Smart Growth
The City's new Official Plan proposes new mixed-use neighbourhoods where employment and housing are located near each other. It is hoped that this will lessen the requirement for new roads and transit services and negative impacts on the environment. Another way in which these same objectives can be achieved is by extending broadband services throughout the City. Employees who will be allowed to work from home can use broadband to communicate thus avoiding a daily commute to work. As well, home-based businesses will be able to benefit from efficiency gains and not be subject to the delays associated with "low speed" dial-up connectivity. The Impact of Broadband in Rural Areas In order to keep their operations going, other businesses that currently reside in Ottawa's rural areas are now stating that they need access to broadband networks. For example, knowledge workers such as engineers, lawyers and consultants have indicated a need for access to high-speed communications to provide required services to clients across Canada and around the world.
The Province is also recognizing this need. On February 5, 2003, the Ontario Government launched Connect Ontario: Broadband Regional Access (COBRA), a three-year $55 million program that brings high-speed telecommunications to northern and rural communities across the province. The program encourages public-private partnerships in creating inexpensive, reliable broadband connectivity. Government costs will be shared with these partnerships, and communities will be expected to secure funding from other sources, including federal programs such as Broadband for Rural and Northern Development. COBRA will provide broadband connectivity to core public institutions in regions currently without access to high-speed communication services, providing a foundation for growth. Farming has become a high-tech industry. More and more farmers are dependent on timely access to information, weather, current market pricing, fuel costs, etc. Access to information and reducing transactional costs have become critical to a farmer's ability to maintain a profitable operation. The two examples below illustrate this point:
Avoiding a Digital Divide in Ottawa - The National Capital FreeNet Ottawa can rightfully claim that it does not suffer from the same digital divide as other less fortunate cities. Ensuring the Internet is as accessible as possible requires not just connections but also education and the removal of other psychological and financial barriers. For more than a decade, the National Capital FreeNet (NCF) has focussed its energies on ensuring that all the residents of Ottawa have access to the Internet. The National Capital FreeNet's grassroots approach has resulted in a highly cost effective introduction of the Internet to over 75,000 residents. As the Internet is becoming the new "yellow pages" it is critical that all businesses and organizations have a presence on the web. The NCF is also looking at future programs to ensure that a true digital divide is avoided in Ottawa. The National Capital FreeNet's emphasis on Internet literacy for individuals and Internet access for small businesses supports some of the key objectives in the City's Broadband Plan. Competitiveness Broadband connectivity is now important to the competitiveness of a full range of business sectors throughout Canada. Annual savings that were achieved up to the year 2000 by these various sectors using broadband for e-commerce transactions are noted in Figure 111. More than ever, a diverse range of companies are now enquiring about the availability of broadband services before they choose a community to build in. Recognising this fact, many communities, large and small, are now actively encouraging the deployment of broadband services in their areas. Bottom Line Economic Impact: the South Dundas Example
Solid data regarding the economic impact of broadband networks is difficult to find since implementation of the technology is still relatively new outside of large corporations and the research communities. As well, not all communities engage in the additional step of measuring results after they have completed the installation of their broadband networks. Nonetheless, there are compelling results, such as the case of The Township of South Dundas, located along Highway 401 on the St. Lawrence River, not far from Ottawa. Although it is primarily an agricultural community, South Dundas has some industry in the two larger towns of Morrisburg (population 2400) and Iroquois (population 1200). South Dundas invested its own funds to build a community-owned hybrid network infrastructure in these two towns as well as in Williamsburg (pop. 800). The network was designed to bring fibre optic cable to all businesses, giving each the option of paying for and making the connection to the fibre. Wireless radio provides the link between the three communities. (By a Council decision, the community-owned network does not serve residential areas, some of which have access to cable Internet service.) As of August 2002 the South Dundas Economic Development Commission documented the following specific effects on the local economy12:
7 Report of the National Broadband Taskforce, June 18, 2001.
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