OTTAWA — Ahead of the CRTC’s public hearing next week to review its wireless policies, research firm Abacus Data released results Wednesday of a survey commissioned by Shaw Communications that found 95% of Canadians say regional wireless providers increase competition and provide better service to customers.
Furthermore, 66% of Canadians agree competition from regional wireless companies like Freedom Mobile, Eastlink and Vidéotron has resulted in reduced prices charged by the national carriers, says study.
“One reason Canadians value having strong regional wireless network options is because most see a direct connection between reduced prices charged by the national carriers and increased regional competition by regional companies,” writes David Coletto, Abacus Data CEO, in the news release.
After being told the CRTC recently reported the price for mobile packages with 2 GB or more of data decreased an average of 35% from 2016 to 2018, the survey respondents were asked to choose from of list of contributing factors which they considered to be the most significant factor to the price drop. Almost half (45%) credited regional competition as the primary cause for the reduced prices. One-third considered public pressure to lower prices was the main contributing factor, and 20% said government pressure on wireless providers was the primary factor for prices dropping over the three-year period.
When asked if the federal government continues to encourage and support more regional competition in the wireless market and whether that will help, or not, to reduce prices in the future, two-thirds of respondents said it will help. Only 12% said they felt that kind of government action would not help to reduce prices.
When it comes to decisions made by government or regulatory bodies regarding wireless networks, 86% of Canadians said it’s important those decisions allow regional wir
eless networks, such as Freedom Mobile, Videotron and Eastlink, be able to compete with national carriers Bell, Rogers and Telus, according to the survey.
Finally, the report found Canadian consumers recognize the quality of wireless networks will need to continue to improve over time. Over the next five to 10 years, the geographic coverage of
wireless networks will need to improve, according to 65% of Canadians surveyed. In addition, 61% of respondents said the reliability of the network will need to improve over the same time period and 58% said data transfer speeds over the network will need to get better over the next five to 10 years.
The Abacus Data survey was conducted online with 1,850 Canadians aged 18 and over from January 30, to February 2, 2020.
