PARIS – Canadians haven’t bought into the mobile Internet phenomenon like other countries’ citizens have according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) latest Communications Outlook report released Thursday.
Crediting the popularity of smart phones and tablet PCs for driving the growth of mobile broadband services, the report said that wireless broadband subscriptions in OECD countries exceeded half a billion by the end of 2010, noting an increase of more than 10% between June and December. The report is based on data from December, 2010.
The average penetration rate stood at 41.6%, meaning four in ten “inhabitants” in each country on average held a subscription to a data-capable device. Korea topped the list with 89.8%, followed by Finland at 84.8% and Sweden at 82.9%. The United States ranked 9th out of the 34 OECD countries with a 53.5 percentage, while Canada placed 23rd with a 30.4% penetration rate.
The report also said that fixed broadband subscriptions reached 300 million for the first time, but growth slowed to 6% year-over-year, reflecting higher broadband penetration and market saturation in some countries.
For the total number of wireline broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants across all technologies – cable, DSL, fibre, and “other” – Canada ranked 13th out of the 34 OECD countries with 10.47 million subscriptions, or 30.7%. The Netherlands and Switzerland lead the rankings with 38.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, followed by Denmark (37.7%) and Norway (34.6%).
But can this report be taken at face value? As Cartt.ca reported earlier this week, the OECD data seems incomplete and can be interpreted in various ways.
For example, when measuring Canadian wireless broadband penetration, the report only crunched data from incumbents Bell Mobility and Rogers Communications, excluding Telus and the host of new entrants.
Noting key factors in the sector’s continuing health include the growing popularity of offers bundling television, mobile and fixed telephony, the OECD itself cautioned that “the complexity of some bundled offers makes them increasingly hard to interpret and poses additional challenges for consumers trying to compare prices and make informed decisions”.
Click here for more on the report.
