High speed access gives companies an edge, enabling them to access advanced information and communications technologies (ICTs) more effectively says a recent survey, "Broadband Internet: Removing the Speed Limit for Canadian Firms".

Sixty-six percent of Canadian companies now have high speed (broadband) Internet, up from 48% in 2001.

The study found that companies with high speed were more likely to:

• Have a website -50% for businesses with high speed in contrast to 29% without.

• Sell online more frequently - firms with high speed accounted for 97% of the value of online sales in 2003.

• Use other communication technologies such as an Intranet or Extranet - 27% of companies with high speed had an Intranet, compared to 7% for those who did not have broadband access.

• Make purchases online - 56% of companies with high-speed access made purchases online in 2003, compared with 35% of companies with low-speed access.

The study also found that high speed access helped level the playing field for small firms, making them more comparable to large companies. Small firms with high speed access accounted for 13% of online sales in Canada. Small firms were more likely to make purchases online in 2003 than they were a few years ago.

The following chart presents the differences in Internet use based on company size and the type of Internet access.

Percentage of firms using selected ICTs in 2003
Speed of Internet connection
	Low	High
Small Firms
Website	27.1	44.4
Intranet	5.4	21.4
Extranet	1.6	7.3
Purchasing online	35.0	54.7
Selling online	4.0	10.3
Medium Firms
Website	54.3	74.6
Intranet	23.1	46.7
Extranet	5.3	20.3
Purchasing online	35.3	58.8
Selling online	12.1	15.8
Large Firms
Website	42.7	80.1
Intranet	38.0	62.4
Extranet	3.6	34.8
Purchasing online	35.2	64.2
Selling online	n/a	15.8
Overall
Website	29.2	50.4
Intranet	6.8	26.7
Extranet	1.9	10.3
Purchasing online	35.0	55.7
Selling online	4.6	11.4
Source: Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology.

Source: Statistics Canada

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