VANCOUVER – Most Canadians expect that cell phone prices will drop this year now that the country has a fourth major wireless company, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
More than half of respondents (53%) say that Canada is one of the most expensive countries to use a cell phone – including more than 60% of those in British Columbia and Alberta, while one-in-four (24%) believe the country is “slightly” more expensive than others.
In an on-line survey of a representative national sample Canadian adults, 72% of respondents said that the decision to allow Globalive’s Wind Mobile to operate in Canada is positive, while only 9% identified it as negative.
In addition, a majority of respondents (51%) said that they believe that federal Industry Minister Tony Clement made the right call in allowing Globalive to begin operations in Canada. About three-in-ten Canadians (28%) sided with the CRTC, which originally denied Globalive’s request to begin operations because it is majority funded by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding.
The on-line survey was conducted from December 16 – 17, 2009 among 1,007 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists.
