Industry committee  Right.

Industry committee  As an industry, we're awaiting the new spectrum rules. We don't know what they're going to look like, and my hope is that they will address the rural issue. If they don't, we're back to talking about subsidies, subsidies, and more subsidies, when in fact the challenge is spectrum, not subsidies.

Industry committee  It's an important issue to our company. But again, on digital literacy, what is the number? Seventy-five per cent of Canadian households have a working PC and 25% don't. It's those small percentages, it's about the danger of those small percentages. Twenty-five percent may not sound like a lot.

Industry committee  I think we have an issue. Frankly, I think all countries with a significant rural challenge have the same issue. How do you get enough infrastructure into the rural parts of the country? The U.S. has an issue similar to Canada's, which is that gaining access to spectrum is challenging.

Industry committee  What part of it? The spectrum?

Industry committee  I can't comment on that. I know that neither country has addressed the issue of how to partition urban and rural, and that's a real issue.

Industry committee  To be clear, the mobile people need it for a different reason. We need it for fixed networks. What I'm saying is that the rules don't enable us to get spectrum on a cost-effective basis. I don't want to negate what folks are saying about mobile, or all the great things you're talking about in terms of mobile commerce, but right now, that's an urban construct and an urban opportunity, until we get spectrum in rural communities.

Industry committee  There's a variety of dates. On the satellite side, I believe it's the end of the fourth quarter or the early first quarter. It's around the corner. There is a schedule of dates on wireless starting sometime in the middle of next year. We can provide all of that information. It's really right around the corner.

Industry committee  Could I comment on digital literacy? There is no silver bullet. It's such a fundamental. It's been interesting to hear the conversation on how consumers protect themselves and how we get small business engaged. We have to get to 100% digital literacy, yet I don't know if we've reached 100% on traditional literacy.

Industry committee  First of all, it's not 1%. Again, by CRTC's statistics, the percentage of Canadian households and businesses who will need wireless and satellite to get broadband or high-speed Internet is probably closer to 15%. Second, it's about wireless. It's about satellite. The technology is coming.

Industry committee  Let's think about the agricultural sector, mining, and oil and gas. How much of our wealth gets created in rural Canada? The opportunity, the need, the imperative to actually be able to communicate digitally with businesses that are in the most remote and rural parts of the country is one example.

Industry committee  Thank you. There should be a presentation in front of everyone, in both official languages. I'll call out the panels at the top left, if I could, just to lead you through it. First, who are we? We are the leading provider of broadband to rural Canada. We're a national provider.