It is now official; Internet has joined the list of life’s basic necessities, joining water and electricity on the list, well at least in Canada. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently established funds to attain new high speed Internet targets, and one of these targets are the rural or the isolated part of the country.

The target internet speed is 50 megabits per second for download and 10mpbs upload for the next 15 years, as per a news release. A hurdle for this feat would be the cost for delivering this speed. It will cost the country tens of billions of dollars to bring ultrafast internet in the northern provinces of the country.

Politicians and tech leaders all around the world said that access to high speed internet is a must for economic growth and equal access to opportunities and information, according to CS Monitor. But only Canada, the US, Israel, Finland, Malta, Spain, and Switzerland have taken the step of equating fast internet to other basic infrastructure. But even these countries are having a hard time bringing high-speed internet because of poor service, questions about net neutrality, and the big cost.

“Access to broadband internet service is vital and a basic telecommunication service all Canadians are entitled to receive,” CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said on a statement on Wednesday. “The availability of broadband internet, however, is an issue that can’t be solved by the CRTC alone.”

Furthermore, the government will mandate and provide funds to ISPs to improve their internet services in the next ten to fifteen years. The money will be invested in broadband infrastructure and is reported to be $750 Million sponsored by several industries to be consumed for five years.

About two million Canadian households, or about 18 percent, reportedly lack access to high-speed internet as the CRTC defines it, the regulator estimates. CRTC’s goal is to reduce that to 10 percent by 2021 and down to zero in the next 10 to 15 years.

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