OTTAWA – Led by mobile and Internet services, retail telecommunications revenues grew 3.3% in fourth quarter of 2017 over 2016 revenue levels, according to new data released by the CRTC.
Results for broadcasting distribution and the retail telecommunications sectors for Q4 2017 found that mobile and Internet revenue growth continue to outpace subscriber growth, pointing to greater revenue per subscriber. Mobile and Internet revenues grew by 7.0% and 7.1% respectively, in Q4 2017 over the same period in the previous year, while subscriptions grew by 3.3% and 2.7% respectively.
The industry overview represents approximately 20 reporting entities whose combined revenues accounted for over 93% of all retail telecommunications revenues and consists of the eight most recent quarters of data. The Commission said that the main objective of reporting quarterly survey results is to provide industry participants, policy makers, stakeholders, etc. a timely illustration of the retail telecommunications industry as a whole, including BDU services.
Facing pressure from technological substitution such as wireless services, video calling applications, and instant messaging, wireline voice revenues and lines continued to drop, with local revenues shrinking by 7.1%, long distance by 16.6%, and local lines by 4.6%. Long distance revenue erosion averaged 17% for the last three quarters of 2017 when compared to the same quarters of 2016, significantly higher than the 11% long distance revenue erosion for the first quarter of 2017 versus the first quarter of 2016.
Data and private line growth continued to decline through most of 2017 compared to 2016, with the growth rate reaching -4.5% in Q4 2017, down from a minor increase of 1.4% in Q1 2017 when comparing corresponding quarters year-over-year.
The makeup of every $1 of telecom revenues in the period is: mobile $0.57, Internet $0.21, local and long distance $0.16, and data and private line combined $0.06.
The broadcasting distribution sector continues to experience an overall decrease in revenues and subscribers. In Q4 2017, BDUs (i.e. cable, satellite and IPTV service providers) reported revenue and subscriber decreases of 3.4% and 1.4%, respectively, when compared to the same quarter in 2016. However, IPTV service providers are still reporting growth in both revenues and subscribers, while cable and satellite providers are experiencing declines.
The pending 2018 edition of the Communications Monitoring Report will provide an analysis of the entire communications industry and its 2017 results.
