As I mentioned in my opening remarks.... Let me just take a step back and say that I completely agree with the committee's recommendation and statement. I quickly tried to point out where we are right now, which is a little more than half, if you will.... About 90% of those in urban areas have 50/10 service available to them, but it's around 50% in the case of those in rural areas. Sadly, it's less in indigenous communities.
What are we doing about it?
We initiated our broadband fund and we have been assessing applications and awarding project funding as rapidly as we can. We work together to the extent we can as an arm's-length agency with federal and provincial governments to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being deployed efficiently. Obviously, the federal, provincial and territorial governments have now committed a much larger amount of funding to try to build those things out.
Progress is being made. I think it was about 44% 18 months ago in rural areas. We don't have the most recent numbers, but it looks like it's greater than 50%. That's not a great result, but it is happening and it does take time.
The reason those rural communities are less well served is that fibre typically doesn't reach them. Fibre is being deployed in a lot of cases, as well as new technologies such as low-orbit satellites. All of these things are happening, and they're not happening fast enough, I acknowledge, for those who live in those areas with an insufficient level of service. Directionally, it's going to the right place, and we're doing what we can with our fund.