TV services, wireless and Internet spur revenue growth in broadcast and telecom: CRTC report

Television services and the wireless and Internet sectors are crucial factors that have fuelled revenue growth totaling $54 billion last year for the broadcast and telecommunications industries, according to figures in the second annual Communications Monitoring Report released by the CRTC this week. Telecommunications The largest revenue growth was seen in telecommunications. According to the report, revenues increased by 5.5% or $2.1 billion to stand at a total of $40 billion for last year. “This improvement of $2.1 billion, or 5.5%, in one year was achieved on the strength of the wireless and Internet sectors,” said the report. Wireless telephone services garnered the highest revenue growth in the telecommunications industry, accounting for 40% of all revenues. In terms of increase in figures, revenues shot up 10.5%, from $14.4 billion in 2007 to about $15.9 billion in 2009, the report said. As well, revenues from the Internet sector, fuelled by an increase in residential subscribers, rose by 9.4%. From a total of $5.7 billion in 2007, they now stand at $6.2 billion for 2008. About 74% of Canadian households now subscribe to residential Internet services. This represents an increase of 5.6% or 9.8 million Canadians in 2008. The report also said an increasing number of Canadians preferred faster Internet services and about 52% of all households “subscribed to a broadband service that offered speeds of at least 1.5 megabits per second.” Canada now leads all the G7 countries in the number of households that subscribe to broadband Internet. Broadcast For broadcast, revenues jumped to $14 billion last year. This is an increase of $900 million or 7.3% for the period ending Aug. 31, 2008. This growth was spurred on by the delivery of television services, which displayed the highest growth, registering $7 billion compared to $6.3 billion for the previous year. Other highlights of the report *Established telecommunications companies faced stiff competition from competitors who gained ground. Competitors saw their revenues increase 10%, jumping from $15.9 billion in 2007 to $17.6 billion in 2008. *For the established telecommunications companies, their share of the residential Internet subscribers held steady at 55%, but competitors on the other hand scored a 4.6% increase in the share of the residential telephone market. *The general amount of time Canadians spend online has increased. For Anglophones the figure is 13.8 hours per week compared to 13.4 hours in 2007. Francophones spend 11.1 hours online, compared to 9.8 hours for last year. *About 18% of Anglophones watch television online, while 16% of Francophones do the same. *Specialty channels, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand garnered $2.9 billion in 2008. This represents an increase of 8% from $2.7 billion. The rest of the report can be accessed by clicking here.

TV services, wireless and Internet spur revenue growth in broadcast and telecom: CRTC report

News | 08/06/2009 6:36 pm EDT

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