TORONTO – A poll of consumers conducted for Vidéotron shows they think that wireless services are too expensive and they want the government to open up the field to more competitors.
The Praxicus Public Strategies survey of 1,000 Canadians conducted last weekend shows that 62% of them think wireless is too expensive, including 38% who think it’s “very expensive.”
Services would get cheaper if there were more competitors, said Vidéotron.
More than 70% of those surveyed want the federal government to reserve a portion of additional frequencies for new entrants into wireless when it holds its spectrum auction later this year. Vidéotron plans on entering the auction, and if it obtains frequencies and “fair competitive conditions,” it would roll out a wireless network across Quebec to deliver integrative, multimedia mobile services.
The poll results were released today at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto by Vidéotron president and CEO Robert Dépatie. “Canada lags the industrial world in wireless penetration,” said Dépatie in a news release. “Canadian prices are higher than elsewhere due to the lack of intense competition. While investors may be pleased, consumers are being exploited and the country’s productivity suffers.”
Dépatie cited research commissioned by Vodafone in the U.S. by Fuss, Waverman, et al. that estimated that Canada’s gap in wireless penetration has cost this country more than $20 billion in lost productivity.
