Delivery of broadband to Canadians without access via wireless technology and GIS modelling

Abstract

Millions of Canadians residing in northern, isolated, rural and remote communities do not have broadband internet and this has led to a national 'broadband divide' induced by geography. The rollout of wired broadband is limited in rural and remote areas because of the high deployment and maintenance costs that would be passed onto the consumer who would be unwilling to pay exorbitant subscription fees. Alternatively, wireless broadband access does not entail the kind of physical infrastructure and associated costs which dramatically changes how broadband internet can be provided beyond the urban zone. This research develops a geographic information systems (GIS) model to determine if emerging terrestrial wireless broadband technologies (WiMAX) can effectively service the rural and remote regions of Canada. In addition, the robustness of the GIS model is tested in Alberta using intervisibility analyses at multiple spatial scales. Results suggest that coarse-scale GIS modelling with minimal data requirements can reliably identify potential wireless broadband markets. This research clearly shows that GIS modelling can make a significant contribution to the analysis of wireless deployment planning, to the understanding of the relationships between wireless signal sources and consumers, and to the spatial configuration of terrestrial wireless broadband networks.