Basic wireless plans cheaper, bigger data buckets more expensive: report

While Canadians saw prices for basic mobile phone subscriptions fall, data released by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada on Tuesday indicated that high-end mobile phone plan prices remained the same or increased between 2016 and 2017, bucking the overall the global trend. In the tenth edition of a telecommunication price comparison study prepared by NGL Nordicity Group Ltd. for ISED, the research group measured and compared fixed and mobile internet prices in Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, United States, and Canada. The report converted local plan prices to equivalent Canadian dollar values. It broke down mobile plan pricing into tiers, from level 1 (only 150 minutes of talk time), to level 6 (unlimited minutes, texting for three lines and a shared 10GB of mobile data), and also included pricing found in different in regions across the country. Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Regina, Montreal and Halifax were compared in the study. The report found that between 2016 and 2017, price points of low-end plans with no data have consistently fallen across Canada. Plans with 150 minutes, as well as plans with 450 minutes and 300 text messages (labelled level 1 and level 2 tiers) fell in price on average across the measured regions by 25.7 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. That translates to average plan prices of $30.53, and $40.95 for levels 1 and 2. The report said level 3 plans — which have 1 GB of data with 1,200 minutes of talk time and 300 texts — fell 5.3 per cent on average from 2016 to 2017, from $74.67 to $70.70. Only Halifax saw a 1.8 per cent uptick in rates in that time. According to the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report, Canadians used an average of 1.23 GB of wireless data a month in 2016. In a Tuesday release, ISED applauded the lower rates for low and mid-tier plans and increased competition in Canada, writing that plan prices dropped “for millions of Canadians.” “While progress is being made, the Government will continue to watch market dynamics and promote more competition so that all Canadians can have high-quality services at affordable prices,” read the release. However, the trend of falling prices reverses when it comes to higher-tier plans. Plans with unlimited talk, texting and data totals of 2 GB, 5 GB and 10 GB increased on average across Canada by 0.7, 8.2 and 14.1 per cent, respectively. That translates to 2017 dollar values of $81.61, $104.49 and $264.65 on average. The plans’ pricing (considered levels 4, 5 and 6 in the report), fell in most other countries between 2016 and 2017. “Most countries saw decreases in level 5 prices, except for Canada and Australia,” read the report. In the U.S. level 5 plan prices dropped in every city in which Nordicity measured mobile rates by an average of 36 per cent, from an average price of $117.33 a month in 2016, to $75.06 in 2017. In France, where there were fewer level 5-equivalent offerings in 2017, prices fell 33.8 per cent. Similar to the U.S., Italy saw a 12.8 per cent drop when every wireless service provider lowered their prices between 2016 and 2017, from $61.02 to $53.22 on average. Australia’s prices only increased 0.6 per cent for level 5 plans, according to the report. When reaching into the very high-end tiers, the U.S., like Canada, saw a large increase in price at 18.6 per cent increase on tier 6 plans, or those with multiple lines and 10GB of data. Dated Oct. 5 but released by ISED Tuesday, the report noted Nordicity collected the data in May 2017. The Canadian dollar exchange rate from May and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) purchasing power parity differences were factored into the report's international prices. — With reporting by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Basic wireless plans cheaper, bigger data buckets more expensive: report

News | December 12, 2017

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Basic wireless plans cheaper, bigger data buckets more expensive: report

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