TORONTO -- Faster and more capable Internet services are headed your way from some of the country's biggest telecommunications providers, but the chance you'll need to jump on a "gigabit" package right away is highly unlikely.
That hasn't stopped Rogers, Bell and Telus from launching the high-priced and cutting-edge service that offers the ability to download at speeds of up to one gigabit per second.
Technology analyst Carmi Levy suggests the launch might convince some Canadians to sign up for a more expensive Internet package that won't noticeably affect their speeds.
"Unless you have identified the need for gigabit services, you may want to wait before you buy in," he suggested.
"We haven't even begun to discuss, let alone understand, what this technology means for the Canadian consumer."
Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) on Monday became the latest carrier to offer preorders for its Ignite Gigabit offering, which will be available in certain areas of the country later this year.
The rollout will begin in Ontario, focused on areas of downtown Toronto and surrounding areas like Woodbridge, Richmond Hill, Markham, Pickering, Whitby and Ajax. Next year, Rogers will expand the service to all of Ontario, and to Atlantic Canada, with a goal of making it available to all of its customers by the end of 2016.
The company joins Bell (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T) who are both in the midst of their own massive "gigabit" investments in fibre-optic Internet expansion which is costing each of them about $1 billion.
Rogers did not say how much its rollout would cost the company.
For all three providers, it's a race to the finish line for bragging rights on who has the fastest and most capable Internet. But for the rest of us, paying $150 a month for an unlimited "gigabit" Internet package is probably unnecessary.
Existing Internet capabilities are more than enough to stream movies on Netflix and casually browse websites for most Canadians at this point.
Next year, Rogers hopes to make "gigabit" Internet more relevant by producing a raft of sports content in 4K ultra high-definition and making it available to stream online in the superior image quality.
The strategy, which will tap into into Rogers' ownership of the Toronto Blue Jays and the broadcast rights it owns for National Hockey League games, is targeted directly at sports watchers.
The company will also make hundreds of hours of TV programming available in 4K ultra high-definition, which is twice the resolution of an HD television, but requires customers to buy an Ultra-HD TV.
Viewers who stream the 4K image quality will quickly discover their current Internet connections can't handle the heavy data load, which Rogers hopes will convince them to upgrade to more expensive packages.
"We're future proofing our customers so they have the bandwidth in their homes to actually consume this great content that we're going to create," said Rogers CEO Guy Laurence during an announcement held at on the baseball field at the Rogers Centre.
For those who don't want to upgrade their Internet package, Rogers plans to offer a new 4K-ready set-top box, though it hasn't revealed the price.
The first 4K broadcast will be the National Hockey League game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs airing on Sportsnet Jan. 23.
After that, Rogers has committed to 4K resolution on Sportsnet for another 19 NHL games, 81 Toronto Blue Jays home games and over 100 hours of entertainment on its Shomi streaming video service.
A separate 4K feed of Sportsnet will be made available to other cable providers, the company said.
Whether ultra high-definition TV appeals to most Canadians still remains to be seen.
Most viewers who own TVs smaller than 55 inches probably won't notice a difference in 4K picture quality, according a report from digital video and audio mastering firm THX. The cost of 4K televisions also could prove to be a setback at this point, as most of them soar above $1,000.
Outside of streaming TV shows, the wider capabilities of "gigabit" Internet will become more useful as connected homes become more commonplace, with the ability to link everything from thermostats to kitchen ovens to the Internet.
The opportunity will be welcome for many Canadian telecoms who have been looking for new ways to drive growth after a move from regulators earlier this year which shortened the window for wireless contracts, said Levy.
"The wider the pipe you have going into a customer's home or office for the Internet, then the more services that you can possibly sell them over that pipe," he said.
