OTTAWA – Almost three-quarters (74.3%) of Canadian households reported having a cell phone in 2008, up from 72.4% in 2007, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The proportion of households with cell phones was highest in Alberta at 84.5%, followed by Saskatchewan at 78.0%, British Columbia at 77.8% and Ontario at 76.8%. Quebec had the lowest rate of cell phone use at 65.5% of households.
According to StatCan’s residential telephone service survey, 8.0% of households reported having cell phones only, up from 6.4% in 2007. Younger households were much more likely to use only a cell phone, with 34.4% of households comprised solely of adults aged between 18 and 34 relying exclusively on cell phones. The rate was 4.5% among all other households.
In 2008, 67.0% of the households that used only cell phones were renters rather than homeowners.
The proportion of households without any phone service remained unchanged from 2007 at 0.9%.
The survey, conducted since the Fall of 1998, monitors residential phone penetration rates across all provinces in Canada.
