CRTC report ranks Canada in the middle on international pricing

Canada ranks in the middle of the pack for the cost of Internet and wireless services among key industrialized countries, the CRTC said in an annual statistical report on the communications industry Thursday. The CRTC compared Canada to the United States, the United Kindom, France, Australia, and Japan to evaluate how its average price per subscriber per month for various services ranked internationally. For wireless services, Canada’s average monthly price for an average user was $52, lower than that of the U.S. ($61) and France ($78), but higher than the U.K. ($33), Australia ($36) and Japan ($44). Canada ranked better on broadband services, at $48 per month for an average customer using 1.5 to 9 Mbps Internet service. Canada’s average price was lower than that of the U.S. ($59), Australia ($52), Japan ($50) and France ($50), but higher than the U.K. ($36). The CRTC statistical report, which released comparative data up to 2009, said Canada’s communications industry—including the broadcasting, telecom, new media and wireless sectors—accounted for 4.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2009, with overall revenues of $55.4 billion, 2.1 per cent higher than the revenues of $54.3 billion in 2008. The CRTC reported that broadband penetration at speeds of 1.5 Mbps reached a rate of 72 per cent in 2009, up from 69 per cent in 2008. Still, 5 Mbps or faster broadband services penetrated only 44 per cent of the market nationally, up three percentage points, from 41 per cent in 2008. The average user downloaded 12 GB per month in 2009, an increase from 9.1 GB in 2008, the report said. The report also showed that average monthly revenue per subscriber for broadband services gradually increased from $35.18 in 2006 to $37.86 in 2009. For 5 to 9 Mbps Internet, the average per subscriber monthly revenue has climbed from $38.74 to $41.36. But 1.5 to 4 Mbps services have declined in monthly revenues per subscriber, from $34.24 in 2006 to $32.46 in 2009. The CRTC noted in its report that the telecom industry “is dominated by a small number of large companies that collectively, with their affiliates, account for 94% of Canadian telecommunications revenues. The vast majority of the remaining entities are small entities with revenues of less than $5 million.” The report also showed that Canadians continue to pay more for cable and satellite television distribution services. Cable and satellite television services have seen their average monthly revenues per subscriber increase from $44.20 in 2005 to $56.14 in 2009, an increase of 6.2 per cent. From 2008 to 2009, distributors’ revenues per subscriber increased from $53.36 to $56.14, during which time the number of subscribers also increased from 11 million to 11.3 million. The CRTC reported that total revenues for distributors increased from $6.9 billion in 2008 to $7.5 billion in 2009. Data showing wireless penetration rates were not available for 2009.

CRTC report ranks Canada in the middle on international pricing

Brief | July 29, 2010

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