OTTAWA – While increased competition has helped to push down mobile wireless plan prices, Canadians still pay more than most G7 countries and Australia, according to an annual telecom services price comparison report commissioned by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).
Prepared by Wall Communications, the 2018 edition of Price Comparisons of Wireline, Wireless and Internet Services in Canada and with Foreign Jurisdictions examined the five main telecom categories of fixed telephony, mobile wireless telephony, fixed broadband internet, mobile wireless internet and bundled services to provide a comparative price analysis of these services in Canada relative to the United States and six other countries.
For each individual service category, prices are measured for a series of defined "service baskets" designed to reflect typical Canadian low to high telecom service usage levels and features. There are three to six service baskets or "levels" defined for each service category, including a middle or “average” consumption basket for a typical Canadian consumer. The lowest available advertised regular prices, as offered by the surveyed service providers included in the study, are used to measure the prices of each of the defined service baskets.
For Canada, the surveyed service providers include the incumbent telephone companies (e.g., Bell and Telus) and cable companies (e.g., Rogers, Shaw and Videotron), resellers of telephony and/or Internet access (e.g., Primus, Teksavvy and Distributel) and regional wireless market providers (e.g., Freedom, SaskTel, Videotron and Eastlink). The flanker brands offered by the national mobile wireless providers are included and used for separate comparisons. Prices were measured in the metropolitan areas of Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Vancouver, and aggregate Canada-wide prices were determined on a weighted average basis.
For international comparison purposes, prices were also measured using the same methodology for the same set of service baskets for Australia (Sydney), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Rome), Japan (Tokyo), the United Kingdom (London) and the United States (Boston, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Seattle).
New additions to this year's study included an adjustment to the higher-level family plan mobile wireless telephony offering (a 10 to 49 GB data allowance) and two higher-level fixed broadband offerings (a 100 to 250 Mbps offering and a 250 to 500 Mbps offering).
According to the report, all Canadian mobile wireless service basket prices decreased (or remained unchanged) compared to last year, particularly for Level 1 (150 voice minutes, no text or data), Level 5 (unlimited nationwide talk and text along with 5 GB of data) and Level 6 (shared plan with three phones lines and unlimited nationwide talk and text along with 10 to 49 GB of data), which dropped by 16%, 16% and 14%, respectively. Consistent with previous years, average mobile wireless prices were generally found to be lowest in Winnipeg, Montreal and Regina.
In Level 1 and Level 2 (talk and text) baskets, the U.S. PPP adjusted prices are higher than Canada, at $28.50 and $44.29 per month versus Canada’s $25.73 and $39.43, however all other countries are considerably lower. For Level 3 (1,200 voice minutes, 300 texts and 1 GB of data usage per month) basket, Canada is highest at $70.99, followed by the U.S. at $62.48 per month. Canada is also higher than the U.S. in Level 4 ($75.44 versus $61.26), but Japan has the highest price of $81.52. Japan again has the highest price in Level 5 ($103.07), followed by the U.S. ($97.88) and then Canada ($87.32). In Level 6, Canada’s average price of $227.87 is highest, followed by Japan ($222.66) and then the U.S. ($206.57).
The surveyed average prices for European countries included in the study have consistently fallen below the prices in Canada for all defined mobile wireless service baskets – generally considerably lower than in Canada.
ISED said in a statement accompanying the report that while progress is being made, prices in Canada remain expensive compared to other nations.
“We’re working hard to bring down the cost of cell phone plans”, added ISED minister Navdeep Bains. “And while we’re making progress, our government remains focused on promoting greater competition in the telecom sector to drive down prices for Canadians, while making sure they can also benefit from the latest technology and high-quality services.”
As Cartt.ca recently reported, this annual report has been panned by many wireless and telecom stakeholders in Canada for using a flawed methodology.
