science

Telecommunications in Canada

Telecommunications in Canada is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Telecommunications in Canada rather than just read about it. In short: Present-day telecommunications in Canada include telephone, radio, television, and internet usage. In the past, telecommunications included telegraphy available through Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.

Key takeaways

Telecommunications in Canada belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Telecommunications in Canada to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Telecommunications in Canada from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Present-day telecommunications in Canada include telephone, radio, television, and internet usage. In the past, telecommunications included telegraphy available through Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.

History

The history of telegraphy in Canada dates back to the Province of Canada. While the first telegraph company was the Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, founded in 1846, it was the Montreal Telegraph Company, controlled by Hugh Allan and founded a year later, that dominated in Canada during the technology's early years. Following the 1852 Telegraph Act, Canada's first permanent transatlantic telegraph link was a submarine cable built in 1866 between Ireland and Newfoundland. Telegrams were sent through networks built by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National. In 1868 Montreal Telegraph began facing competition from the newly established Dominion Telegraph Company. 1880 saw the Great North Western Telegraph Company established to connect Ontario and Manitoba but within a year it was taken over by Western Union, leading briefly to that company's control of almost all telegraphy in Canada. In 1882, Canadian Pacific transmitted its first commercial telegram over telegraph lines they had erected alongside its tracks, breaking Western Union's monopoly. Great North Western Telegraph, facing bankruptcy, was taken over in 1915 by Canadian Northern. By the end of World War II, Canadians communicated by telephone more than any other country. In 1967 the CP and CN networks were merged to form CNCP Telecommunications. As of 1951, approximately 7000 messages were sent daily from the United States to Canada. An agreement with Western Union required that U.S. company to route messages in a specified ratio of 3:1, with three telegraphic messages transmitted to Canadian National for every message transmitted to Canadian Pacific. The agreement was complicated by the fact that some Canadian destinations were served by only one of the two networks.

Fixed-line telephony

Telephones - fixed lines: total subscriptions: 13.926 million (2020)

Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 36.9 (2020 est.) Telephones - mobile cellular: 36,093,021 (2020)

Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 95.63 (2020 est.) Telephone system: (2019)

Domestic: Nearly 37 per 100 fixed-line and 96 per 100 mobile-cellular teledensity; domestic satellite system with about 300 earth stations (2020) International: country code - +1; submarine cables provide links within the Americas and Europe; satellite earth stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 trans-Atlantic Ocean and 1 trans-Pacific Ocean, and 2 Intersputnik - (Atlantic Ocean region)

Call signs

ITU prefixes: Letter combinations available for use in Canada as the first two letters of a television or radio station's call sign are CF, CG, CH, CI, CJ, CK, CY, CZ, VA, VB, VC, VD, VE, VF, VG, VO, VX, VY, XJ, XK, XL, XM, XN and XO. Only CF, CH, CI, CJ and CK are currently in common use, although four radio stations in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador retained call letters beginning with VO when Newfoundland joined Canadian Confederation in 1949. Stations owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation use CB through a special agreement with the government of Chile. Some codes beginning with VE and VF are also in use to identify radio repeater transmitters.

Radio

As of 2016, there were over 1,100 radio stations and audio services broadcasting in Canada. Of these, 711 are private commercial radio stations. These commercial stations account for over three quarters of radio stations in Canada. The remainder of the radio stations are a mix of public broadcasters, such as CBC Radio, as well as campus, community, and Aboriginal stations.

Television

As of 2018, 762 TV services were broadcasting in Canada. This includes both conventional television stations and discretionary services. Cable and satellite television services are available throughout Canada. The largest cable providers are Bell Canada, Rogers Cable, Vidéotron, Telus and Cogeco, while the two licensed satellite providers are Bell Satellite TV and Shaw Direct.

Internet

Bell, Rogers, and Telus are among the bigger ISPs in Canada. Depending on your location, Bell and Rogers would be the big internet service providers in Eastern provinces, while Shaw and Telus are the main players competing in western provinces.

Internet service providers: there are more than 44 ISPs in Canada. Internet Exchange Points: There are multiple Internet Exchange Points in Canada, the largest of which are in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Most ISP's peer at one or more of these Exchanges, except for Bell Canada. The Toronto Internet Exchange ranks as one of the largest internet exchanges in the world. Country codes: .CA, CDN, 124 Internet users: 33 million users Internet hosts: 8.7 million (2012–2017) Percentage of households with Internet access: 87(2016) Total households with high speed connection: 67% (2014) Total users of home online banking: 68% (2016)

Mobile networks

The three major mobile network operators are Rogers Wireless (13.7 million subscribers), Bell Mobility (10.29 million) and Telus Mobility (9.5 million), which have a combined 86% of market share.

Administration and Government Federally, telecommunications are overseen by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (French: Conseil de la Radiodiffusion et des Télécommunications Canadiennes)–CRTC as outlined under the provisions of both the Telecommunications Act and Radiocommunication Acts. CRTC further works with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada) on various technical aspects including: allocating frequencies and call signs, managing the broadcast spectrum, and regulating other technical issues such as interference with electronics equipment. As Canada comprises a part of the North American Numbering Plan for area codes, the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium within Canada is responsible for allocating and managing area codes in Canada.

Illustrations

The logo of Bell Canada, the nation's largest telephone company

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Telecommunications in Canada

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Telecommunications in Canada claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Telecommunications in Canada before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Telecommunications in Canada ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Telecommunications in Canada

In research: Telecommunications in Canada appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Telecommunications in Canada in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Telecommunications in Canada is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Telecommunications in Canada, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Telecommunications in Canada outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Telecommunications in Canada in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Telecommunications in Canada means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Telecommunications in Canada out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Telecommunications in Canada in simple terms?

Why does Telecommunications in Canada matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Telecommunications in Canada?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Telecommunications in Canada.