ISED announces $10/100GB internet plan for low-income families

Innovation minister Navdeep Bains used the third day of the annual Canadian Telecom Summit to announce that a number of participating internet service providers will be providing up to 220,000 low-income families with the opportunity to buy low-cost internet plans.

Plans will be priced at $10 per month, and will provide subscribers with a minimum of 100GB of internet at speeds of 10Mbps.

Bell, Cogeco, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Telus and Videotron are all participating in this initiative.

Of Canada’s Big Three internet service providers — Rogers, Bell and Telus — Rogers and Telus both offer some form of low-cost internet plans to Canadians in certain regions.

The Rogers Connected for Success program is entering its fifth year and has 250 housing partners — as well as 100 co-ops — that allow the provider to reach approximately 200,000 households.

The Telus Internet for Good program connects with low-income households in Alberta and British Columbia to provide low-cost internet to families in those provinces.

Both Telus and Rogers offer internet for $10 per month to some low-income customers. Rogers provides 100GB of internet per month at download speeds up to 10Mbps, while Telus provides up to 300GB of internet at downloads speeds of up to 25Mbps. Bell, meanwhile, does not currently offer a low-income internet program.

It’s important to note that ISED’s newly announced low-cost plans are only available for families that receive the maximum Child Care Benefit.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) will be using summer 2018 to connect with any internet service providers looking to take part in the ‘Connecting Families’ initiative.

Bains also announced that ISED will be investing $13.2 million CAD over the course of five years to distribute approximately 50,000 computers through the government’s Computers for Schools program.

The computer distribution initiative will go live in fall 2018.

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