Majority of Canadian mobile wireless prices second-highest internationally: ISED report

The average Canadian mobile wireless prices rank the second highest internationally in four of seven service “baskets,” and remains in the middle-high range for the remaining three, according to the latest pricing report issued by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED). On Tuesday, ISED released the 2020 edition of its annual telecommunications price comparison study, prepared by Wall Communications Inc. Its purpose is to provide a comparative price analysis between Canadian and American telecommunications services, as well as Italy, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. According to the report, domestic mobile wireless prices increased by 11 per cent last year for higher-end plans, compared to 2019, but were “lowered substantially” for the smaller plans. The 2019 report categorized the high-usage plan as a Level 5 service “basket” -- a plan with unlimited nationwide talk and text with 10 to 49 GBs of data per month. The 2020 report separates that data into three separate level baskets and added a Level 8 basket to include data plans that offer 50 GB of data or more. There is no historical data for comparison on the new Level 8 basket. The lower-level service baskets -- Level 1 being a 450 voice minute plan with 300 SMS all the way to Level 4, being an unlimited nationwide talk and text plan with five to six GB of data -- fell by as much as 19 to 28 per cent last year, it said. Regional provider prices offered by Saskatchewan Telecommunication Holding Corp., Shaw Communications Inc.‘s Freedom, Bragg Communications Inc.‘s Eastlink, Quebecor Inc.‘s Videotron, and Xplornet Communications Inc. were “well below the average national price of incumbents” by six to 14 per cent, the report said. In 2019, the regional providers offered prices that were 12 to 45 per cent lower, compared to its previous year. The incumbents, however, largely provide the new Level 8 service basket. “There was a considerable amount of price variability by the regionals in most baskets. By contrast, the incumbents displayed greater price uniformity across the country,” the report stated. The pricing landscape may be set to change this year with the announcements of the Rogers Communications Inc.-Shaw merger, removing a fourth wireless competitor should it go through, and the CRTC’s decision to mandate access to incumbent wireless networks for a limited number of regional wireless competitors. Regarding MVNO prices, resellers “tend to offer relatively fewer service baskets and their plans are typically at the lower end of the service spectrum,” according to the report. It found that the resellers offered higher prices in the Level 3 basket (unlimited talk and text with two to four GB of data) than the incumbents, but lower prices in the Level 1 basket. The United States dropped out of the top three highest prices overall for mobile and was replaced by Germany. The report noted that American service providers generally do not charge for U.S.-Canadian roaming fees (for plans that cost between $50 to $70) whereas both Canadian regional and incumbent providers charge as high as $8 per day. In 2020, fixed broadband internet prices increased in all seven service baskets (defined on the basis of download speed), as opposed to 2018 and 2019 where they “experienced substantial drops” across the board. The highest increase was by 12 per cent for the Level 3 (speed of 16 to 40 Mbps) service basket. Internationally, there are no discernible trends, according to the report. Data from Italy indicates that service providers have all adopted a pricing model of a single price, with customers receiving the highest speed physically available at their location. In the United States, all prices have trended downward whereas Japan, France, Germany and Australia showed mixed results. Canada is the only country that saw an increase in the majority of its service baskets. “The offering of lower level fixed broadband plans appears to be gradually diminishing over time, At the high end, almost every country now has at least one provider with a 1Gbps plan.,” the report also stated. — Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca

Majority of Canadian mobile wireless prices second-highest internationally: ISED report

News | May 4, 2021

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Majority of Canadian mobile wireless prices second-highest internationally: ISED report

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