Wireless data, faster Internet driving consumer spending: CRTC

Canadian telecom service providers got more money from their customers last year largely as a result of increased wireless data usage and demand for faster Internet, the CRTC said Thursday. Overall spending on communications services in Canada rose 3.2 per cent in 2013, increasing to $191 per household each month from $185 in 2012, the CRTC said in its annual Communications Monitoring Report, the full version of which it released Thursday. The commission said the increase in overall spending “was largely due to higher spending on wireless and Internet services," which increased 2.8 per cent and 14.3 per cent, respectively. "Higher spending on these services was largely due to increased consumption of mobile wireless data and increased demand for higher broadband Internet speeds.” The average cost of wireless services for Canadians in 2013 was $69.33 a month, while it was $35.37 for Internet, the CRTC said. Canadians spent more on every service except their home landlines, spending on which fell 5.8 per cent to $32.85, the report noted, adding that decline was due to factors including “the adoption of wireless services and the elimination of second landline telephone service in households.” Television subscription prices were up three per cent to an average of $53.56 last year, the report showed. Of the $191 in average monthly spending, the highest proportion went toward wireless phone service, at 36 per cent. Twenty-eight per cent was spent on TV service, 19 per cent on Internet service and 17 per cent on home phones. The increase in the price of communication services was higher than the rate of inflation, with the CRTC noting it amounted to 0.9 per cent in 2013. Customers in rural areas spent “up to $25 more per month for communications services than those in urban centres,” with those in Northern Canada paying the most, it added. The report said the average number of subscriptions to wireless or wireline phone, Internet or TV service per household was 4.5 in 2013, up from 4.3 in 2009. The increase amounted to a growth rate of 0.7 per cent a year, which the CRTC said was driven by a 3.4 per cent annual increase in wireless subscriptions, a 1.5 per cent increase in Internet and a 0.3 per cent increase in TV subscriptions. That was partially offset by a 3.3 per cent decline in landline phone connections There was also an increase in the number of subscriptions to bundled plans that combine two or more communications services, from 7.5 million in 2009 to 10.4 million in 2013, it noted. The report added that as “the number of households with wireline telephone service has declined from 89.3 to 83.5 subscribers per 100 households” between 2009 and 2012, and “the number of households with mobile wireless service has increased from 77.2 to 81.4 subscribers per 100 households.” Alberta and Ontario had the highest wireless penetration rate, at 90.1 and 83.9, respectively, per 100 households. The CRTC previously released the telecommunications section of the report in late September, which showed that revenue from wireless services in Canada, at $21.2 billion, was up just less than four per cent in 2013, a slowdown from growth that had exceeded six per cent for the previous three years. The broadcasting portion of the report, released earlier that month, showed that revenues for the overall broadcasting industry rose by 1.3 per cent to $17.1 billion, though the proportion of Canadian households with a television subscription of any kind fell to 84.9 per cent from 85.6 per cent. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Wireless data, faster Internet driving consumer spending: CRTC

News | October 16, 2014

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Wireless data, faster Internet driving consumer spending: CRTC

News | October 16, 2014

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Rogers, Cogeco, Quebecor challenge ILECs at CRTC hearings

Cogeco defends infrastructure upgrade amid TekSavvy dispute

Cogeco MVNO operations still a ways away

Corus wants in on local news fund post Rogers-Shaw

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us