Spending on "regular phone" in free-fall; while wireless, web, buys grow

OTTAWA – As the incumbent telcos are already painfully aware, Canadians are spending dramatically less on their old telephone service these days, according to a report out today from Statistics Canada. Off-setting that are big jumps the amount we’re shelling out for wireless and Internet services, adds the report, from 2004 data, which adds households also spent more on mortgages, energy, and health care, and less on automobiles. On average Canadian households spent $63,640 in 2004, an increase of 3.4% from the previous year, and well above the inflation rate of 1.9% as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Households...