OTTAWA-GATINEAU – For the first time, more Canadians subscribe exclusively to mobile wireless services than to wired landline telephone services, according to the 2015 edition of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report on the state of Canada’s communications system.
The report, released Thursday, provides an overview of the Canadian communication industry for the year ended August 31, 2014. As it did last year, the Commission will release the report in three parts, with data on the telecommunications sector and broadcasting sector still to come.
According to the report, 20.4% of Canadians opted solely for mobile wireless services than their traditional landline telephone services (14.4%). The transition to the widespread use of mobile wireless services is borne out by the fact that more Canadian households now have mobile phones (84.9%) than landlines (78.9%).
In 2014, Canadian households spent an average of $203 per month on their communication services, up approximately $12 per month or 6.2% year-over-year. This increase was driven in large part by spending on wireless and Internet services, which rose by 14% and 10%, respectively, as Canadians used more data on their wireless devices and chose faster and larger Internet packages.
Over the past five years, the percentage of Canadians who have access to 5 Mbps download speed (including via satellite) has risen from 86% to 96%, and 77% of Canadian households subscribe to these services, up 6% from 2013.
With more Canadians tuning in to online video services, Netflix subscription rates among the 18-34 years old age group rose from 29% in 2013 to 58% in 2014 among Anglophones, and from 7% to 24% during the same period for Francophones.
Overall viewing of traditional television, however, has remained virtually unchanged. The average number of weekly viewing hours for Canadians aged 18 and over dipped slightly, from 29.8 in 2011 to 29 in 2014. However, Canadians aged 18 to 34 spent less than half the number of hours (20 hours per week) watching conventional television compared with Canadians aged 65 and over (42 hours per week).
Overall revenue generated by the communications industry grew from $61.9 billion in 2013 to $63.2 billion in 2014, a year-over-year increase of 2.1%.
